By John F. Sase, PhD
Who, and what we become, emerges throughout our lives and our family backgrounds. Concerning that, we have our education and our usual stomping grounds. Beyond that, some of our many lifetime influences reflect who and what exists within us, which we experience through the development of whatever relevant education we obtain and skills that we learn, internalize, and develop throughout our lifetimes.
Together, these issues and events extended within us and our families throughout nearby neighborhoods, cities, states, and what lies beyond our neighbors, friends, class, and workmates, including daily associations. Being with friends and family members, from wherever we may have come, stay, and continue to pass. These events offer knowledge for us to grow and develop from our life experiences. Those close to us, physically and in thought, form our human world.
From my perspective, I grew up in Northwest Detroit, a quarter mile from the great woods of Marygrove College. A block south of the college, but north of Puritan Avenue resided members of the American Bund along with their families. Within these multiple neighborhoods, we communed with two prominent groups embracing slightly diverse life philosophies.
North of the college, the compound philosophies of the middle class families flourished together within the mile south of the University of Detroit Jesuit High School (my alma mater). We found Catholics interfacing with a population of other Christian groups, and Jewish families who continued to intermarry with neighbors of various faiths and global regions for hundreds of years.
Friends and I in these neighborhoods surrounding the college generally got along, interacted well, and made new friends with one another, in the search of meeting grounds for our neighborhood groups. We found grass lots preferred for football, soccer, and other sports with similar needs of a semi-soft lawn.
In our additional endeavors, we found the few sizeable, paved parking lots alongside one-story office buildings to be a great place alongside busy avenues. Softball games with the home plate placed alongside a one-story business building facing the busy street of Wyoming Avenue. I continue to recall a row of oaks alongside an ample field/parking lot. The trees helped to keep baseballs from going into the somewhat busy paved street.
This general location included Al’s Party Store at the northwest corner of Puritan and Washburn, a block-and-a-half south of the house in which I grew up. As I matured, our block continued to morph, as we made friends with neighbors descended from families coming to America from Europe and other continents.
As a child, this formed the base of our block. The street was for football and some bike riding; the sidewalks worked well for running bases. The sidewalk, (and an empty lot or two) bounded by houses and an alley fence, provided space for various play (including football with few pieces of equipment).
—————
Education and educational culture in the Age of the Automobile: “And the Topic is Cars”
Throughout our extended neighborhood, we had at least two parochial schools and a few public schools. These included Mumford High School where many of us took our automotive education (essentially, it emerged as a picture of a street driving course built upon the land between the front of the high school and Wyoming Avenue. The photo of it has appeared in school driving coursebooks throughout the country.)
Mumford students relied upon this system of streets and lights to become good drivers. However, this driver-education facility, built for use by Mumford students, remained open to all people in the area wanting to learn to drive both well and safely. Given our large number of automotive plants and assembly suppliers, it seems “not unusual” for the Mumford High School driving course and range to exist within an otherwise quiet residential area of the city.
—————
If you build it, they will come. If they come, you will build it
Detroit has prospered throughout numerous centuries as the spirits of the past keep us alive today. Having a good, solid, long-living industry allows us to thrive today and in the future.
My own parents came to Detroit during the 1920s. My mother graduated from The Detroit Teachers College, in their large building along Cass Avenue. Today this college building continues to thrive as the General Lecture Hall to serve the needs of Wayne State University (WSU), which grew at this location over the decades.
Having started at Notre Dame University near the Indiana-Michigan border, I completed my doctorate in Economics at WSU in Detroit. Both remain fine institutions and my reason for leaving Notre Dame neither reflects the quality of the school nor my personal abilities.
Before finishing my second semester, I was called home by my two aging and ill parents. However, my father also tumbled down our basement stairs and broke his hip. This injury led to severe suffering from related conditions that would result in his death within a couple of years.
My stepmother suffered from her medical condition. While back home I studied music at Marygrove College in between my “medical duties.” After my dad had passed, my mom would come to see performances that included me at Marygrove College. She passed away about two years after my father. I lost a very good friend.
—————
And the plot thickens
Before my stepmom left this mortal coil, I met my wife, Julie, through mutual family friends. At least one was a longtime friend of my parents as well as being my landlady in the University District north of UofD. Mildred and a few other elderly ladies seemed eager to help. For the first year, my spouse-to-be and I participated in theatrical plays at Marygrove College, where she finished her degree in Art and English.
After that season, I decided that I was ready to return to my formal studies. I drove down to Wayne State University and visited the Economics Department in the old faculty office building on Cass Ave just south of the Detroit Public Library. I must have said something of interest at the time as the chair offered me a full ride for both tuition and living expenses. My spouse, Julie (soon to be “expecting”), thought that this route offered long-term qualities as I had done my undergrad at Justin Morrill College at Michigan State University.
Meanwhile, I continued to find myself immersed in the arts as well. My father-in-law worked as a car designer at Chrysler. He and his crew were responsible for the creation of the Cordoba with the rich “Corinthian Leather” (as promoted by Ricardo Montalban). The secret? There never was such a real product as “Corinthian Leather.”
Nevertheless, Montalban helped the crew come up with this magical name. (Oh, well. The bubble has burst). On the other side of vehicles, the brother of my mother-in-law worked as an automotive designer who headed the crew that created the original Ford Mustang.
—————
Was this a plot?
So, here I am between two competing firms. (Note: I have some minor connection with the third entity of the Detroit Big Three). Yes, the Big Three continue to remain competitive! However, some basic human qualities remain in place and have kept the Detroit triad together and functioning throughout the present and previous centuries. Nothing dramatic. However, the Big Three does influence many related industrial groups.
—————
Competition at work, though not at church
Lloyd Reuss served as a key figure at General Motors for decades and served as its president from 1990 to 1992. (Note: His son, Mark, currently serves as president of GM).
My spouse and in-laws belonged to the Presbyterian Church group on Fifteen Mile Road in Birmingham along with Lloyd. When my father-in-law (a designer at Chrysler) was very ill and hospitalized, in the human kindness of their church group, Lloyd would come and visit my father-in-law and other hospitalized members of the congregation.
Later in life, Lloyd Reuss volunteered at Focus Hope in Detroit during the decade that I served as the head of research to Kenneth Kudek, the director who focused our attention on the development of the Machinist’s Training Program. This program developed along with the help of two brothers who served in U.S. Congress until a party-shift occurred in Congress.
In 1993, “Lloyd joined Focus Hope with Father Cunningham and donated his time for many years to establish the Center for Advanced Technologies.” In turn, that program granted more than 300 associate and bachelor’s degrees in engineering to inner-city students.
Given that the apple does not fall far from the tree, many of us hope that Mark Reuss may serve General Motors as did his father, Lloyd. (In my study of industrial economics, it usually works best when CEOs rise to that position through the ranks). What one brings to the table comes from many years of study and practice of human nature.
Who, and what we become, emerges throughout our lives and our family backgrounds. Concerning that, we have our education and our usual stomping grounds. Beyond that, some of our many lifetime influences reflect who and what exists within us, which we experience through the development of whatever relevant education we obtain and skills that we learn, internalize, and develop throughout our lifetimes.
Together, these issues and events extended within us and our families throughout nearby neighborhoods, cities, states, and what lies beyond our neighbors, friends, class, and workmates, including daily associations. Being with friends and family members, from wherever we may have come, stay, and continue to pass. These events offer knowledge for us to grow and develop from our life experiences. Those close to us, physically and in thought, form our human world.
From my perspective, I grew up in Northwest Detroit, a quarter mile from the great woods of Marygrove College. A block south of the college, but north of Puritan Avenue resided members of the American Bund along with their families. Within these multiple neighborhoods, we communed with two prominent groups embracing slightly diverse life philosophies.
North of the college, the compound philosophies of the middle class families flourished together within the mile south of the University of Detroit Jesuit High School (my alma mater). We found Catholics interfacing with a population of other Christian groups, and Jewish families who continued to intermarry with neighbors of various faiths and global regions for hundreds of years.
Friends and I in these neighborhoods surrounding the college generally got along, interacted well, and made new friends with one another, in the search of meeting grounds for our neighborhood groups. We found grass lots preferred for football, soccer, and other sports with similar needs of a semi-soft lawn.
In our additional endeavors, we found the few sizeable, paved parking lots alongside one-story office buildings to be a great place alongside busy avenues. Softball games with the home plate placed alongside a one-story business building facing the busy street of Wyoming Avenue. I continue to recall a row of oaks alongside an ample field/parking lot. The trees helped to keep baseballs from going into the somewhat busy paved street.
This general location included Al’s Party Store at the northwest corner of Puritan and Washburn, a block-and-a-half south of the house in which I grew up. As I matured, our block continued to morph, as we made friends with neighbors descended from families coming to America from Europe and other continents.
As a child, this formed the base of our block. The street was for football and some bike riding; the sidewalks worked well for running bases. The sidewalk, (and an empty lot or two) bounded by houses and an alley fence, provided space for various play (including football with few pieces of equipment).
—————
Education and educational culture in the Age of the Automobile: “And the Topic is Cars”
Throughout our extended neighborhood, we had at least two parochial schools and a few public schools. These included Mumford High School where many of us took our automotive education (essentially, it emerged as a picture of a street driving course built upon the land between the front of the high school and Wyoming Avenue. The photo of it has appeared in school driving coursebooks throughout the country.)
Mumford students relied upon this system of streets and lights to become good drivers. However, this driver-education facility, built for use by Mumford students, remained open to all people in the area wanting to learn to drive both well and safely. Given our large number of automotive plants and assembly suppliers, it seems “not unusual” for the Mumford High School driving course and range to exist within an otherwise quiet residential area of the city.
—————
If you build it, they will come. If they come, you will build it
Detroit has prospered throughout numerous centuries as the spirits of the past keep us alive today. Having a good, solid, long-living industry allows us to thrive today and in the future.
My own parents came to Detroit during the 1920s. My mother graduated from The Detroit Teachers College, in their large building along Cass Avenue. Today this college building continues to thrive as the General Lecture Hall to serve the needs of Wayne State University (WSU), which grew at this location over the decades.
Having started at Notre Dame University near the Indiana-Michigan border, I completed my doctorate in Economics at WSU in Detroit. Both remain fine institutions and my reason for leaving Notre Dame neither reflects the quality of the school nor my personal abilities.
Before finishing my second semester, I was called home by my two aging and ill parents. However, my father also tumbled down our basement stairs and broke his hip. This injury led to severe suffering from related conditions that would result in his death within a couple of years.
My stepmother suffered from her medical condition. While back home I studied music at Marygrove College in between my “medical duties.” After my dad had passed, my mom would come to see performances that included me at Marygrove College. She passed away about two years after my father. I lost a very good friend.
—————
And the plot thickens
Before my stepmom left this mortal coil, I met my wife, Julie, through mutual family friends. At least one was a longtime friend of my parents as well as being my landlady in the University District north of UofD. Mildred and a few other elderly ladies seemed eager to help. For the first year, my spouse-to-be and I participated in theatrical plays at Marygrove College, where she finished her degree in Art and English.
After that season, I decided that I was ready to return to my formal studies. I drove down to Wayne State University and visited the Economics Department in the old faculty office building on Cass Ave just south of the Detroit Public Library. I must have said something of interest at the time as the chair offered me a full ride for both tuition and living expenses. My spouse, Julie (soon to be “expecting”), thought that this route offered long-term qualities as I had done my undergrad at Justin Morrill College at Michigan State University.
Meanwhile, I continued to find myself immersed in the arts as well. My father-in-law worked as a car designer at Chrysler. He and his crew were responsible for the creation of the Cordoba with the rich “Corinthian Leather” (as promoted by Ricardo Montalban). The secret? There never was such a real product as “Corinthian Leather.”
Nevertheless, Montalban helped the crew come up with this magical name. (Oh, well. The bubble has burst). On the other side of vehicles, the brother of my mother-in-law worked as an automotive designer who headed the crew that created the original Ford Mustang.
—————
Was this a plot?
So, here I am between two competing firms. (Note: I have some minor connection with the third entity of the Detroit Big Three). Yes, the Big Three continue to remain competitive! However, some basic human qualities remain in place and have kept the Detroit triad together and functioning throughout the present and previous centuries. Nothing dramatic. However, the Big Three does influence many related industrial groups.
—————
Competition at work, though not at church
Lloyd Reuss served as a key figure at General Motors for decades and served as its president from 1990 to 1992. (Note: His son, Mark, currently serves as president of GM).
My spouse and in-laws belonged to the Presbyterian Church group on Fifteen Mile Road in Birmingham along with Lloyd. When my father-in-law (a designer at Chrysler) was very ill and hospitalized, in the human kindness of their church group, Lloyd would come and visit my father-in-law and other hospitalized members of the congregation.
Later in life, Lloyd Reuss volunteered at Focus Hope in Detroit during the decade that I served as the head of research to Kenneth Kudek, the director who focused our attention on the development of the Machinist’s Training Program. This program developed along with the help of two brothers who served in U.S. Congress until a party-shift occurred in Congress.
In 1993, “Lloyd joined Focus Hope with Father Cunningham and donated his time for many years to establish the Center for Advanced Technologies.” In turn, that program granted more than 300 associate and bachelor’s degrees in engineering to inner-city students.
Given that the apple does not fall far from the tree, many of us hope that Mark Reuss may serve General Motors as did his father, Lloyd. (In my study of industrial economics, it usually works best when CEOs rise to that position through the ranks). What one brings to the table comes from many years of study and practice of human nature.
