Well Kathy,  I did become a hippy and I did grow a beard. I also did have good luck, in that Ann Arbor was where I met Alta Marie Spencer who was to become my wife... 

Once when we were out tobogganing, there was an accident involving something that people there were calling a "bobsled"  - it carried several people and it traveled far beyond where everyone else's  sleds, toboggans and other snow devices usually stopped - unfortunately, it went right under some fallen trees that were lying on the ground -the ambulance came, but to dad's credit (this time), we left before actually seeing the result of this, as people around us were talking about the decapitation of one or more of the riders... 

If you have ever seen a movie called  "Goonies" you might remember a character with a misshapen head and face... if you have, then this would give you a good idea of what Albert looked like - he also had webbed hands and feet - he had been institutionalized since he was a small child and I met him while I worked at the Lapeer State Home in the summer of 1969 - I taught him to play chess and in the short time that I worked there he learned to play fairly well, defensively - not that he ever beat me, but this was pretty good for someone who supposedly was mentally "retarded" - this was a person who really was put away simply because he looked different... I hope that he is living in the community somewhere now... 

There is a VFW Hall in Davison that is named after one of our relatives - he was the first soldier from Davison to die in the 2nd world war - I'm not sure what his relationship to us was, but I think that he may have been Great Uncle Clarence's  son (?) - I remember going to this hall a couple of times for family wedding receptions - this was one of the few times where I saw anyone from the Skellenger side of the family ever take a drink of alcohol (somebody spiked the punch...) -  both sides of my family had several members who served in the armed forces at different times - dad didn't because he was too young to be drafted for WWII and then too old (and married with kids) for the Korean War - Grandpa Skellenger was stationed in Vancouver, Washington (NOT, Vancouver, Canada), during WWI - I once saw a picture of him riding a VERY old motorcycle from that time - on a couple of occasions, Grandma Skellenger took me to a different VFW hall to play BINGO... 
  
The American Legion Hall  in Lapeer was (is) a much more elaborate affair, but then the Legion always boasted more members and probably members with more money... with a family background like this you can imagine how they reacted to my opposition to the Viet Nam war - it really was a time of jingoistic slogans on both sides of the issue - Peace NOW! - My Country, Right or Wrong! - America, Love It or Leave It! - well I did love my country, but I did in fact, later choose to leave it... 

Ann was a sophomore when I graduated  in 1969 - she was an outspoken pacifist  and opponent of the war in Viet Nam - a  very plain looking individual who walked  with a limp - she usually dressed rather  severely -  I didn't know at the time that  she had a crush on me, although I did  know that she liked me - this had  repercussions that I didn't expect a few  years later when she actually did attend  college in Ann Arbor and discovered that  I had gotten married ... 

 - in my yearbook she wrote: "Michael - to start with - Keep Ann Arbor all in one piece until I get there. You'll be leaving me at the mercy of the local John Birchers, also Best of Luck of course. "God" Bless: Make sure that you visit the Unitarian Church in Ann Arbor - it's right on Washtenaw. 
Ann Palmer ‘71  - 

She had a brother,  Russell,  who graduated at the same time that I did, I knew him but only as a fellow student... 

My dad and many other male relatives on my mother's side of the family owned some very nice bows. - they would go deer hunting with these during bow hunting season and often seemed to have pretty good luck with them. As a kid I would often make bows from branches and string - I was given a 25 lb, fibreglass  bow when I was about 10 years old and got to be pretty good with it. - we had a target set up in the field beside our house - I really didn't like gym class in high school except for the 1 week when we were supposed to be exposed to different sporting activities - I surprised many of my classmates and my teacher when I turned out to be proficient with a bow - unfortunately this was only a 1 day "exposure"  - I still really enjoy shooting a bow, but I don't get enough opportunities to do so, I don't currently own a bow - these days when we live in a city, it just isn't the same at an indoor target range... 

Arsenal  of   TOY   guns  and  weapons 

When I was a kid I had the biggest and most varied toy weapons arsenal in the neighborhood - bb guns - a flintlock pirate pistol - 2 U.S. Civil War Cavalry pistols - a German luger - a .45 automatic - a couple of derringers - a few 6 shooters - holsters - a couple of ray guns - a bazooka that shot blasts of air - an M-16 - a cannon (Big MOE) that would shoot a plastic ball about 30 feet  - water pistols - toy grenades - helmets - shields - swords - spears - clubs - tomahawks - axes - knives and jack knives - darts - slingshots - bows and arrows - various uniform hats - just the sort of things that a young boy wants to have, to later convince his draft board that he is a conscientious objector  - sure made for some great neighborhood battles though... 
  
Debbie:  Mike had the best gun "sounds" of any of the neighborhood boys. I think it was from watching so many TV shows, like "Rat Patrol", "Hogan's Heros" and all the World War I and II movies. He also had a BB gun, and was the envy of the boys whose fathers wouldn't let them. 

This was the High School Art Club  - Mrs. Thwing was the sponsor - in  1968 (a U.S. Presidential election  year) - I convinced the workers at  the George Wallace Independent  Party headquarters that I was a  supporter and wanted to distribute  posters, buttons, bumper stickers  and literature at school - I  changed some of this material to a  Hitler face and included it in the  club's art show which was being  held in a storefront downtown -  (another year it was held on the  Courthouse lawn) -  I was  denounced as a communist over  the local Baptist Church radio  station for this desecration, but no  other action was taken against me  for it...(in the county where I lived Nixon(R) came in first, Wallace (I) second and Humphrey (D) came in third) 

I was VP of the club 1 year and President in another - This (and the Spanish Club) were the only formal school activities  that I joined...once I painted a stylized nativity scene on the window of the high school office and another time I painted a Hobbit village on the windows of the children's ward at the Lapeer County Hospital.... 

The club went on a couple of field trips to the Detroit Museum of Art and to one in Flint - the one in Flint was the more interesting to me because it displayed a showing of artists working in plastic materials - the show  went off in many different directions - this was also the first time that I had seen a gaseous laser as part of a work of art...