Grandmont #1 resident De’Janay Jones, age 16, is not too proud to do the hard and sometimes dirty work necessary to make Detroit a bit cleaner each day. She also designs and makes clothes that have turned some heads. This summer, Monday through Wednesday from early in the morning to late afternoon, De’Janay is either…
“I couldn’t believe it!” That was Sweet Potato Sensations owner and North Rosedale Park resident Cassandra Thomas’ reaction when she found out that she was on the cover of Hour Detroit magazine. Cassandra recalled the interview with Hour editor and fellow North Rosedale Park resident Steve Wilke, and the trip downtown to get her photo…
Some people discover what they’re good at and what they love after years of searching and trying several things out. Some lucky few find it early. 19 year old Rosedale Park resident Emma Stark played just a couple of seasons of neighborhood baseball and soccer and knew that her future did not lie in either…
“Red-tail!” “I see it!” “Look! On the far tree, left of the main trunk!” The conversation is about birds and the 25 or so bird watchers, or “birders,” as they often call themselves, are excited about spotting a hard to see warbling vireo or a brilliant Baltimore oriole or a knocking red-bellied woodpecker or a…
For several years, Margaret Oldfield of Minock Park had a terrific neighbor named Tony. Before he moved in, Tony renovated the kitchen, refinished the floors, and painted. Margaret and Tony soon became good friends as well as good neighbors. After a few years Tony found that maintaining a home, working and going to law school…
Minock Park resident Anthony Cheatham, 16, is a thinking young man, a young man who pays quiet attention and then, seemingly effortlessly, figures stuff out. Last summer Anthony participated in the GRDC’s Youth Summer Arts Program. This was not Anthony’s first venture into art: “I’ve done art since I was a little kid. I’m good…
Grandmont resident Kevin Johnson is a busy man. As the Grandmont historian, Kevin stores and keeps track of his neighborhood’s newsletters, The Grandmonitor. Kevin doesn’t just store them though, he reads them. He reads them because he believes that “history is important. It’s important to leave a legacy, and that’s what I find in the…
Submitted by Kathy Garrett When Grandmont #1 resident Annie Mae Holt retired three years ago from her position as an eighth grade English Language Arts teacher in the Detroit Public Schools, she “was concerned that there wouldn’t be enough to do.” Today, her days are filled with volunteering with the Wayne County Health Care Authority…
Submitted by Kathy Garret For a couple of days during the first summer of GRDC’s Beautification Task Force, Vicki Holmes’ backyard looked like a wedding was about to take place. There were 50 rose bushes and “I don’t know how many flats of flowers” waiting on her back porch. Volunteers from all five neighborhoods came…
Submitted by Kathy Garrett One of Hubert Sawyers’ earliest memories is of his fifth birthday party at his parents’ house on Warwick. Soon, Hubert was getting up early to make it to Cooke School, then Murphy Middle School, then Cass Tech. Inspired by a trip to Japan in 1995, Hubert majored in International Studies at MSU.…