VANDENBERG ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DETROIT MICHIGAN

Vandenberg opened on a snowy Monday February 1,1954. We had moved into our new house in this new neighborhood at the far corner of Northwest Detroit about six months earlier. The school was under construction. We had to attend a different school further away for several months until Vandenberg was completed. A new concept was introduced when Vandenberg was opened. This would be a school that students would attend from kindergarten through the eighth grade. The students would than go straight to high school rather than attend a junior high for the seventh and eighth grades. Several years later it was decided that this was not a very good idea and that kids needed a junior high as a transition before entering high school. I attended through the eighth grade.

I am thinking about Vandenberg today because while going through some boxes in my garage recently I came across two books I had forgotten about. In 1990 and again 2012 reunions were held at the actual school for all students that attended the school in the 1950's and 60's. These nice books were souvenirs from the reunions. These reunions took a lot of hard work by a number of people. There was also a lot of red tape that had to be dealt with to arrange to have these reunions take place at the school. This is what I think brings us to the question. Why was it so important to so many to have these reunions held at the actual school instead of at a more convenient venue as many events of this type take place.

A lot of people have fond memories of their youth and the schools they attended as young people. I have found to this very day that people I know that attended Vandenberg Elementary during that era are extremely sentimental about this school where they spent there early years.

The school was fairly small. It was more modern that most of the schools in Detroit which were built decades before many prior to World War 2. The school was built on a big piece of land that looked like woods. When the school was completed the rest of the land was cleared. The property was transformed by the city to a large park called Comstock Field. It had baseball diamonds, tennis courts, and a football field with goal posts put up every Fall. A section of the park was made into an ice skating each winter.

Everyone lived close to the school and the park. Many kids could see the house they lived in when they looked out of a window while in school. We played on that park during gym period in the spring and fall. We played on that same park after school and in the summer.

It was all very familiar to everyone.

We liked and respected our teachers. They seemed to like teaching at Vandenberg and the students. Some were able to attend the reunions many years later. Most of the kids who went to that school during that period can still remember many of the teacher's names including Mrs. Wade the principal.

The school, the park, the whole neighborhood seemed like an extended family. One person wrote in the reunion book I can still remember the names of every family on my street. She went on to say when I meet someone that attended Vandenberg Elementary School I hug the person as if they were family.

It was a good time to grow up. We were lucky to attend this new school and have those teachers. Very lucky to have lived in this new neighborhood.

According to information in the reunion books people came from all over the country and various parts of the world to attend the reunions.

This might explain why it was important to have the reunions at the school everyone seemed to like so much. I spoke to a classmate of mine from Vandenberg the night of the reunion. He said to me Ronnie, I think they were the best years of my life!

WRITTEN BY

RON TURETT