Welcome to Holy Redeemer High School Web Page
Dick Curtis, John Kaplan, Bill Spooner, Don Miller, Mary Lou Bourdage Coleman, Maryann Olay Cook, Nancy Sovey Lee, Jean Limmer Bollis, Ken Sjostrom, Dorrene Bowen Maes, and Cecile Seymour Norris
Dick Curtis
When I graduated from Holy Redeemer I immediately joined the USAF but had to wait until Oct. of '57 to enter active service. Kenny Sjostrom and I joined up together and went down to San Antonio, Texas for our basic training. After a month, we were split up and I went on down to Biloxi, Miss. for training in Electronics and graduated in Jan. of '58 as a Radar Operator. I was sent up to the Territory of Alaska and ended up serving a year out in the Bering Sea about 40 miles off the coast of Siberia on St. Lawerence Island, spying on the Russian Strategic Air Base in Provedinia Province. After that year I returned to Fairbanks, Alaska for another 6 months duty in the 11th Air Force HQ coordinating the Intelligence Data gathered from the outer sites in Alaska. I was there when Alaska was voted in as a State in '59. When I returned to the Lower 48 I was stationed in Las Cruces, NM for the rest of my time. It was there that I met Rosie as she was visiting her Aunt in Las Cruces...she had come up here from Ecuador and was working for Dr. Clyde Tombaugh ( the Astronomer that discovered Pluto) Her Uncle Jimmie was on his staff so we got to be friends and eventually I married Rosie on July 23, 1960. When my four years duty was up, President Kennedy extended my service for another year due to the Cuban Missle Crisis so I got to spend some additional time in the Air Force but eventually got out in time to enter school at Mott Comm. College in the fall of '62 for two years and then transferred over to Michigan State University where I took a Bachelor of Science in Police Administration. I started out as a Biology Major but ended up working with the State Police in the riots of Detroit in 1967. My life has taken many turns and twists since those days, but I eventually ended up working at AC Spark Plug in 1976 where I was a Production General Supervisor. I kept studying and in1990 got my Masters in Engineering at GMI (Kettering) now and spent my final 11 years at AC as Supervisor of Service Engineering and spent a lot of time traveling around the USA with my golf clubs playing golf for AC while Liaising with many other Manufacturing companies in the US and overseas with the Israelis and the Chinese. I (was) retired June 1, 2001 and have been enjoying my time motorcycling and working on a never ending Honey Do list that Rosie manages to keep full, and we just celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary. Tomorrow we leave for Las Cruces,NM for a short visit prior to our Winter stay just to check out a few things and visit her Aunt And Uncle who still live there with all of their family. We've been going down to NM since 1962 almost every year and it is our second home as we also have a large extended family there. There...we're pretty much caught up on me...now tell me all about You...it's a shame we all lost track of each other...I always felt a lot of us were pretty close in school, but life takes a strange path sometimes, eh?
Dick
Tell us about that awesome motorcycle
The trophy was the 1st place trophy from an Indian Motorcycle Show that I went to back in '03. I went to join in a memorial ride for two police officers who died in a hunting accident that were friends of my son Deans (his is also a police Deputy Sheriff and a Motorcycle Officer). On a lark, I entered my "Chief Wasaki" in a judging against 300 Indians and custom Harleys...the voting was a "peoples choice" and my bike got the most votes and took the first place trophy...I guess the people liked my homemade "Indian" I'm always the first to tell everyone it is not an Indian, it is just "My Indian" a tribute to the make I have always admired since the 50s !! Anyway, I just have a lot of fun with it and it never fails to draw attention, one way or another. I run straight pipes on (Vance & Hines Long shots) and it is LOUD.
.
Nancy Sovey Lee
My husband has 5 children and I have 3. Together we have 15 grandchildren.
We live in Beaverton, Michigan. We have a motor home and we go to Florida
in the winter.
We like traveling, playing Bingo and going to the Casino's.
Cecile Seymour Norris
To the class of 1957, so much has happened since I lost contact with all of you and since we have to give a synoposis this is the first thing I would like to say. I Married a remarkable man Charles Edward Norris on May 23, 1959, we have five children John, Charles, Theresa, Stephen, and Thomas and we are blessed with six grandchildren: John, Jennifer, Robert, Elise, Skylar, and now baby Jaden, And a lovely Great Granddaughter Marissa. She is the "apple" of my son, John's eye. Another pivotal point of my life is being able to travel and see much of our US of A including spending time in Okinawa, since my husband was on tour there. Also, I was able to see Hawaii. The future plans of mine, are writing the story of my life, the title of the book will be JUST SAY CECE!!! My hobbies include letter writing, love to exercise, dance, and joke a lot, stamp collection, sewing and to brush up on my piano playing. Am spending my Golden Years with my children and grandchildren and hopefully Marissa. Also, in addition to writing my life story; travel, travel, travel. With two very gifted parents I HAVE REALLY LEARNED A WHOLE LOT IN MY LIFETIME!!!
Sincerely Cece Norris 
Jean Limmer Bollis
Hello Classmates of 1957
I got married in August 1960.
We have 5 sons and one (1) daughter.
We have 9 grand children living in
We live in Grand Blanc,
John Kaplan
I have been in Battle Creek since 1999 when my wife got a job here at Denso Mfg. . I worked at Hamadys for thirty six years. Then I worked at Kessels for six years after Hamadys went under. I have been retired since Sept. of 97. So after moving down here, I kept house, made the meals, did the dishes and so on while my wife supported us. We have three children. Helena, married to Dave Seiver and lives in St. Louis, MO; JohnJoseph, who lives in Grand Blanc and will be getting married this Oct.; and Angie, who is married to Laurence Huntley and have 6 year old twins Stella & Ryder. I have been married for since 1968 to a wonderful and beautiful gal named Betz. She just retired Feb. 2006. We have been traveling a lot since she has been retired. Besides going up north to Crystal Mountain area to visit the twins we are going on a driving trip from St. Louis, MO to Montana this spring where we will help Helena & Dave plant trees on property they own. They lost all their trees and a garage they just built last year in a fire. Betz and I will see you at our 50th reunion, John Kaplan
Don Miller
Time sure flies when your having a good time! To describe my last fifty years could take a lot of time and prove to be boring and elicit numerous who cares. Therefore, I choose to opt for brevity. I have always been told I was a bit of a slow starter and I am sure after reading this you would all agree. Like most of us who graduated from Holy Redeemer in 1957 I found myself unprepared and clueless. I thought about cosmetology school, but several of my classmates had already secured all of the openings in the local training schools. I even thought of doing a study on the noise level in New York City streets but Leonard beat me to that. By the age of 24, having spent two years in the army defending my god given right to drink beer in most bars in Germany and working in the Chevrolet Frame and Stamping plant, it occurred to me that college just might be a good idea. I entered Eastern Michigan as a not so wide eyed freshman in 1963. My previous post high school experience proved to be a great motivator. I was able to complete both a BS and MS. While in college I met my wonderful wife Linda and we married in 1966 prior to graduating from undergraduate school. After graduate school we moved to Oscoda, Mi. where I worked as a guidance counselor in a junior high school and Linda taught elementary school. After seven years of small town life we decided it was time to move. Oscoda was a nice place, but very conservative and we weren't. We moved to Boulder, Colorado in 1975 and have found it to be a wonderful place. In 1980 our first daughter. Brynn, was born. I told you I was a low starter. We enjoyed being parents so much that we decided to have another child and had another daughter, Bryce, in 1984. Both of our daughters graduated from the University of Colorado. Brynn is currently in graduate school and will complete her MS in Psychology in 2008. Bryce is working as the Director of Marketing for a restaurant group here in the Boulder/Denver area. I have been working as a recruiter (headhunter) since 1978. I have worked strictly on my own since 1984 and have a home office that allows me a great deal of flexibility. From what I can gather everyone is retired. As usual I am behind again. I enjoy my work and Linda is six years younger and still working so what's a guy to do? The beauty of my job is that I can do as much or as little as I choose. Life is good. I hope all is well for all of my old friends as well. Enjoy the reunion and hoist one for old better late then never Don
Bill Spooner
I entered Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit after graduation. I left in my second year and entered Flint Jr. College or what ever they called it in those days. I floated around for a few years not knowing what I wanted to do until I discovered the Michigan School for the Deaf. I made my major special education. specializing in working with the deaf. I was asked to take over a class before I finished my course work. I continued teaching without my degree for a few years.In 1968, I graduated from the UM Flint branch. I earned an MA from Converse College in Special education and another 30 hours towards a counseling degree from the Universsity of SC. In 1968 I met Mary Jo at the Michigan School for the Deaf. We married in 1969. Today, our two daughters have given us three grandsons ages 8, 6 and 2 . Will, our latest is named after his grandfather, William. It is a great honor. In 1971, I accepted a job at the South Carolina school for the deaf and blind. I served as the Dean of Students for four years and then was promoted to Assistant Superintendent for all of student affairs. I left the school in 1977. I returned to the SCSDB seven years ago as a teacher. Today I am the ISS teacher. ISS stands for In School Suspension.
I left out several boring years to give you a break. I did many different things during those years. I was a concrete contractor and later built swimming pools for a couple of examples. I also went back to college to learn how to write computer programs. I eventually found my way back to serving the handicapped children. Our school serves the deaf, the blind and the multi handicapped. Today I love my Mean Streak motorcycle and ride when I am not customizing it. Teaching gives me a lot of free time for some traveling. If we do not have the re-union I plan to go west to visit Don Miller in Boulder Colorado. Madeline has planned her birth on August 2, 2007. She will be our fourth grand child.
Mary Lou
I attended Flint Junior College and received an Associates Degree in
Business. My career started as a Service Rep. then an Executive Secretaty
for several years. I got married and was a stay at home Mom until our
youngest child was in the 7th grade. For those years I was the chauffer,
domestic engineer, teacher, adviser, cook, nurse,wife, gardner, seamstress.
We had 3 children, Suzanne, Craig & Gary.
I am an avid Coca-Cola collecter. ( I drink Diet Coke) Lots of memorbilia
including trays, bottles, christmas decorations & villages, stuffed bears,
posters, & furniture pieces. You will see this in my family room. Started
collecting in the 1970's in Tennessee on a vacation trip to Gatlinburg.
I have done a lot of traveling and one of my favorite destinations is Walt
Disney World in Florida with my children and grandchildren. I have 4
grandchildren. Michael, sophomore at Grand Valley State University in Grand
Rapids area. Travis, a Senior and a great, great golfer (watch for him on
the Pro tour in the future. Austin, Junior and a great Ice Hockey player
(since he was 6 years old). Allie, a Freshman cheerleader, volleyball and
soccer player.
I am a member of the RED HAT SOCIETY and love traveling and attending events
with them.
My career from August 1979 until I retired December 2005 was with MEIJER
INC. I had 28 years of service. Started as a part-time clerk in the
jewelry dept. moved to cashier and cash office. Then I went into Management
and became a Service Manager in charge of front end operations (cashier,
baggers and the service desk) It was an enjoyable and demanding career.
(Customers always right??) Lots and lots of customer service. I worked at
Meijer stores in Burton, Owosso & Oxford Michigan. Done a lot of training
in Indianna, Ohio and Illinois for new stores.
At the present time I do whatever I want whenever I can. Looking forward
to seeing and hearing from all of my classmates and wish you all the very
best. Sincerely, Mary Lou :)
Sorry, we won't be coming to the class reunion. Our grandsons open house
will be that day and then we will be leaving for
ask for a quick overview of the last 50 yrs. Mmmm, O.K. Ben and I were married
April 1960. The first seven years I was busy producing 5 children. Until
1979, I had no life. During my "no life period" I learned how to settle wars and
negotiate peace, chauffeur the troops and take care of health requirements,
teach the illiterate and did a lot of praying, for me! In 1979 I started selling
real estate and retired in 1997. Ben retired from GM in 1992, and the
Army, in1995. Since then we have been remodeling the house and doing a lot of
traveling. We have a 40 foot motor home that we put to good use. We winter
in
most of the winter. Mother is 92, so we stay there as much as we can and take
side trips when we start to feel restless, then back to Cowtown
grandchildren and a dog. They're not in the same category.
Airedale and the kids are mostly human. On holidays there are 18 of us here, and no
better place in the world to be. We have been extremely blessed and in the
last 50 years, there is not one thing I would change. How was that for
quick?
Hope you all have a wonderful time, tell everyone Hi for us and hope every
one is in good health.
Dorrene
Maryann Olay Cook
Maryann married 34 years to Julius. We have 5 children between us and 8
grandchildren, 1 deceased. Our oldest grandchild, Stephanie is in her last
year of college at Central Michigan has always been on the Dean's List.
Nick is a grad from firefighters school, he is our Fireman and he work's
in Genesee, still going on to college. Our youngest is 3 and all the rest
in between.
Since we have retired we have got involved in old cars we belong to the
Script "A"s model A club and we travel all over with the club. We have a
32-Vicky, a 29 Ford Pick-up and a 47 Old's street rod. We also love NASCAR
races and dont's miss one.
My mom is still alive and my dad died in 1999. I do not do computers, but
you can contact us at Juiius' e-mail J H Cook 1939 @ AOL.COM
Ken Sjostrom with Ernie
Love to you all,
Ken
