Hi, I am Alex’s Mom. I am originally from Flint, Michigan, which has progressively gone downhill as far as crime and the economy since I graduated from high school in 1987. Being a very depressed area, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to extend my education beyond high school and move away to attend college in Ann Arbor at the University. Given that none of my relatives, past or present had achieved a higher education degree, the odds were against me. What I did have in my corner though was the fighting spirit and determination within, which seems to be instilled in every generation of my family.
On my dad’s side of the family, my great-grandparents were farmers which moved to the Flint area with the explosion of auto manufacturing in the 1930s, and my grandfather retired from AC Spark Plugs after thirty years on the job. Being an auto worker and cook/bookkeeper, my dad’s parents were able to raise three boys (including my father and his two brothers). My parents married right out of high school and had me when they were 20 years old. That said, they did not go to college and instead worked very hard doing jobs that didn’t pay very well like appliance/car salesman and bus driver. Seeing that they struggled to support me and my two siblings, I vowed to carve out a different path and set my goals on attaining at the very least a Bachelor’s degree.
On the maternal side of the family, my great-grandfather was a professional gambler with his wife staying home tending the gardens, chickens and taking care of the brood of kids they had (which totaled 13 kids). As was common in those times, my great-grandmother didn’t work outside the home, but my other great-grandfather was a fire chief. My grandfather’s family moved to the U.S. from Germany, but had been here for several generations working as farmers, railroad construction workers, and eventually line workers in the auto factories (as my grandfather retired from DuPont paint after 30 years). My grandmother did not work, drive or speak English (for the most part) as she was born and raised in Quebec Canada, speaking only French until she was 13 years of age when she moved to Flint to live with one of her older sisters. She met my mom’s dad when she was working at the Soda Fountain counter at the drug store that was located across the way from the shop where factory workers would often go for lunch. They married and had five children, but tragically my grandmother was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis when my mom was only 10 years old thus cutting her childhood short as she and her sisters had to now take care of all household chores and take care of their mother as her health deteriorated.
There have been several challenges and steep obstacles that my family has faced, but it seems that deep down inside each one of us there is a never ending desire to keep pushing through adversity to achieve our goals. I can only hope that this spirit continues to carry my boys forward into the future allowing them to do what they set their minds to.