Ann Arbor, Michigan

[This is a continuation of a series on cities which I have visited or in which I have lived.]

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The late 1960’s and early 70’s was a great time to live in Ann Arbor Michigan. It was a typical university city full of the then current unrest. Students were in protest. Young men went without shaving and young women without bras. I went with my teen-aged son David to my first (and only rock concert) where marijuana  smoke filled the air.

I was Superintendent of the 117 Lutheran elementary and high schools in the state. Our office became “occupied” by a group of black activists who insisted they would not leave until they were paid several million dollars in “reparations’ for past injustices. We dialogued with them, served them coffee, assured them no money was forthcoming but that we would stay with them as long as they stayed. My memory is that well before 10:00 pm they had decided to “call it a day”. They left and they never returned.

But for all of us it was time to reassess our ministry to and with our black brothers and sisters. Dr. Pete Pero who was serving in Detroit and his black allies taught me a lot.  There were 17 Lutheran schools within the city limits of Detroit, some of them with all-black enrollments. Those teachers, students and parents were patient with me, accepted me and broadened my horizons.

My memories of the principals across the State are very positive. While the schools of Detroit may have had very diverse student bodies the schools in places like Bach or Frankenmuth were still all-white and often all Lutheran. Interestingly one of the things I remember of those days 40 years ago is that the State highway department did an incredible job of keeping all highways open during snow storms and I do not recall ever having to cancel a school visit because of weather!

It was a great time to be politically active, especially in the interest of school choice. I helped form the Michigan Association of Non-Public Schools, sat on a special Education Committee of the State Senate, was invited to meet with President Nixon, and served as Vice-president of the now defunct Citizens for Educational Freedom. One of the great joys of all this was that I had two associates,  Don Kell and Roland Boehnke and the three of us together with our aide, Elinor Donohue,  were always challenging and supporting each other into new ways of thinking and acting.

We lived in Ann Arbor for only four years but that was enough time to learn to know its excellent restaurants and friendly bars where Lutheran principals(all except one were male!) could gather, drink a few beer together and sing songs to our hearts content. The University of Michigan football stadium was the site of some great football fetes and the frozen feet of a whole den of boy scouts whom I took there. The memory of that university may have played a role years later when our daughter  Elizabeth returned there to earn her Ph. D

Ann Arbor - a good place of fond memories and intellectual growth.