Oliver E Owens has contributed several yearbooks which he has scanned himself and sent along for me to display on the web site. It is a big project and there are many, many pages going back to the early and mid fifties. He has also sent in several photos from times that were special to him and I’ll start with these. Just recently sent in from a visit to Michigan. Just click on the thumbnails for a larger view and put yourself in the picture....

The reunion for the Class of 1954 in 1999. (above)

The bus stop, this was taken in a series of pictures that I stitched together. On the left, behind the trees, is where Mary Ann, Glenn, and Yvonne Briggs lived and the house on the right is where Steve Kebler lived.  Back then, each of the trees was smaller than my wrist in diameter.  Behind me when I took the pictures is houses and front lawns so I couldn't get far off the road. While in school, the area was a swamp and in the winter would be our run-off area when we slid down the hill, in the road, on our sleds. People often parked their cars there also when they couldn't drive up the hill on the ice. 

The CAI building, many of us went to school there. This should bring back a few memories. As I remember it was just a brick building but my memory gets fuzzy around that time. Popular place for dances and more then half the students went to this school in the early daze.(Hey Oliver, isn’t this where we used to all go to the sock hops in the 60’s, I remember it as a brick colored building? Not to far from the Waterford Drive-in?)

It used to be the drug store on the corner of Elizabeth Lake RD and Cass Lake Rd.  They had a soda fountain also.

Oakshire....looking down the hill where we used to slide on our sleds toward the bus stop. Just a step back in time to the early early 50’s. Nearly looks the same and feels the same traveling down the street as I look at many of my friends and neighbors homes.

Oliver and Eldean Owens 2003. (above)

My first jobs? I don't remember which came first, the paper route or the
kiddy carnival?  After high school, I worked at Metropolitan TV near the
intersection of Telegraph and Orchard Lake.  I was paid $30 for 60 hours
work per week, repairing radios and TV sets. It was considered "on the job
training" and they were paid by the state, through Vocational Rehab, to train me.  That lasted about 6 months, then I went to Chicago for two weeks of post graduate lab work at DeVry Technical Institute. When I came back from Chicago, I got a job with Infra Corp.  We started in Clarkston and later moved to Waterford on Dixie Highway behind "Big Jims" Hamburgers.  The company made ultra violet sterilizers for barber shop tools.  I was hired for an experimental program, wiring, testing, troubleshooting, repairing, etc. electrical relay control panels. That went for a couple of years until business got slow and I decided to start college.
Oliver '54 WTHS

Oliver E Owens writes...
How about my start. My left leg was in a cast that went all the way to my neck. Doctors were trying to straighten  my spine and correct a tipped pelvic bone. They did not know that the  condition is not correctable. Within the last five years, doctors here  confirmed that I was born with a hemivertebre, spina bifida, fused vertebra, scoliosis, and tipped pelvic bone. I wore the cast until I started school,  and then wore a brace until I had reached my growth. I currently have  pinched nerves in my spine that messes up control of my legs. If I have a  lot of walking to do, I use an electric scooter.

Using myself as an example, don't always believe what you are told. It can cause a profound difference in a persons life. Doctors at the University of Michigan Hospital told my mother that I probably would never walk. I learned to walk while still wearing the cast. While I was a teenager, doctors told my  mother that I probably would not live beyond 21 years old. They didn't say  how many times. Because of this, I was never encouraged to prepare for the  future. Supposedly, I had no future. In high school, I was told not to take any more math and don't try college. I just was not college material.  After being out of high school 4 years, I started college just to see if I could do it.. In 1963 I graduated from Central Michigan University with a math major.

Supposed experts are not always right.

Oliver Owens 1954

A little update from Oliver...

Well Mike, I entered this world in 1935. Spent most of my first two years in Ann Arbor in the hospital. The next 60 years, trying to figure out where I fit in. Never did figure that part out.

Had cozy years after WW2. Three families consisting of 9 kids and 6 adults in a two bedroom, one bath house. Up stairs was a dormitory for us kids and a
chaperone.

First earned money from outside home on paper route, Detroit Times and Detroit News.

Worked part time for Kiddie Carnival

1953 - 1955 Correspondence course in Radio & TV. First saw color TV while in Chicago taking post graduate lab work at DeVry Tech. One of their students had built the TV and they ran it in the lunch room. The World Series was on in 1955.

Worked for several Radio & TV repair shops and subcontracted to repair radios and phonographs.

Wired, tested, trouble shot, repaired electrical relay control panes.

College 1958 - 1963 BS secondary education, Math major, Industrial Education minor.
Camp Counselor at Camp Oakland during two summers. Selected for extra session with "wards of the court".

Substitute teacher in Pontiac and Waterford during spring semester, 1963.

Taught Basic Electronics and Radio at Lamphere High School, 1963 - 1965.

Senior operator of automated drafting and digitizing machines for Chrysler Corp in Technical Computer Center in Highland Park, 1965 - 1971.

No work to be found, 1971 - 1972.

Post office rural route at Houghton Lake, 1972 - 1978.

Moved to Florida, 1978.

Electronic Technician a few months.

Inventory control and order supplies for concrete pipe plant.

Materials receiving inspector, develop filing system for blue prints, write shop orders for machined parts for medical supply packaging machine manufacturer.

Check-Pack for clothing ware house.

Bindery worker until my spine gave me trouble. Doctor said he would never let me go back there to work.

Lab assistant for micro biologist and production assistant in point of use water filter manufacturing plant. Installed and wired machines to fill filter
cartridges.

Taught Adult Basic Education and GED for eleven years until new principal released us without an explanation. I was having some trouble with my spine and legs and, with her permission, I was riding my scooter to class.

Currently looking for work to do at home so I would be available in case Eldean has a problem.

Oliver 54

Visiting Mike and sandy Dolliver in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Click for a larger view just so you can see our dinner....

Oliver 1959 in his pride and joy of all times!