Fred Roperti's Reflections

Memories of the Class of 1949 - the Plymouth Rocks

Our Plymouth High School class of '49 held a 60th reunion on September 12, 2009 at the Hilton on Sheldon Rd.  It's hard to believe 60 years have gone by since graduation, where oh where did the time go, and so quickly?  I lived in Livonia, as did others in my class, and we had to bused to Plymouth since we did not have a high school in Livonia at that time although they were working on Bentley High.  There we were, 18 years old and ready to conquer the world, and now those of us left are now 78 years old.  But everyone attending the reunion all really looked good.  In fact, the good-looking girls attending the reunion looked VERY good.  Maybe it's just ego that I don't want to consider myself, or my classmates, as old people.

 

Out of our class of 130, 39 attended our 60th reunion.  Sadly to say that 69 classmates are deceased, and we haven't heard from at least 22 others.  Three of us live in Salem Township, including Ferman Rohraff and Bob Houghton.  I was on the reunion committee to help out but Doris Tillotson White and Dick Weinert did most of the work and we are grateful for their effort at every 5 year reunion.  Several of us were asked to speak to tell about our most interesting experiences, mine being the Township Supervisor for 8 years.

 

I think about my good buddies from Livonia:  Don Patterson, Ted Burton, Jim Wagenschutz, and Jim Kolak and all the fun we used to have.  Don Patterson was probably my best buddy and we used to hang around together driving our Fathers' cars around going to fast food drive-ins, which were plenty in those days.  My favorite memory was Don Patterson and I driving around Hines Park at night looking for parked cars.  When we found one, we threw a lighted fire cracker under the parked car.  The couple in the car would get a rude awakening and they would yell and cuss at us, and we would take off laughing.  Well, one evening we did that to a couple in a 1940 Chevy.  At that time we were driving Don's car, a 1932 Chevy, that his dad gave to him for a birthday present.  This guy in the '40 Chevy was so enraged that he took after us!  We didn't know if he had a gun or what.  We got onto Schoolcraft Road fairly quick heading east, but the top speed of our Chevy was only 61 mph, but the guy's car was much faster.  We tried to lock our doors, but they could only be locked from the outside.  We were finally able to get the outside door key loose from the ignition key chain, while Don is yelling all the time "Alfred, get the censored door locked!"  So we're traveling 61 mph and I have my head outside trying to lock the damn door which finally got locked.  Eventually, the guy in the '40 Chevy gave up the chase, and I can assure you we were  relieved.  Needless to say, we gave up this kind of fun and spent more time at the drive-in's.

 

We had a great time at the reunion visiting with those we haven't seen for years.  Then talking about old times as though it was last week or something, but yet I can't remember things I did yesterday.  I'm hoping that somehow we could still have another re-union although it would be in 2014, that would be iffy at best.  In the meantime my best to all my classmates for good health and thanks for all the good memories as we prepare for another and new life. 

 

Fred 

In the Detroit Free Press - You Just Never Know!

Last week I read an article in the Free Press about GM retirees having their retirement health care benefits reduced...I decided to write a note to the reporter- at about 2 am - about the comments that some GM salaried retirees had made.

To my surprise, Meghana Keshavan called me, came out to Salem, interviewed me, had me photographed and the story appeared - on the front page of the Freep, no less -  all in less than a week! You can the entire story below...

A Farm Grows in Livonia?

Here's an article about the Roperti Turkey Farm - formerly the Roperti Dairy Farm -where I milked cows before and after school - day in and day out. Development has created a Roperti Turkey Farm "Island" - this article is from youngest sister Chrisitine's perspective....

By HANK SCHALLER

11/18/2002

November 18, 2002 LIVONIA - Don't tell Christine Roperti how juicy the white meat on your Butterball turkey was last Thanksgiving. "The white meat on our turkeys is very moist," boasted Roperti, 57, whose parents, Tom and Mary Roperti, opened Roperti's Turkey Farm when milking 40 head of dairy cattle for the Twin Pines Farm Dairy became too much of a chore.

"We wouldn't be in business since 1948 if we had dry white meat." "My father had a buddy who raised chickens and turkeys, and he suggested that my father get in the turkey business," she recalled. "He got rid of the cows in 1947 and started raising turkeys in 1948. We started with 50 turkeys, then went to 100, 200 and 500, and now we raise 4,500 turkeys a year. "When we started raising turkeys, there were farms all over Livonia," she said. "Now we may be the only farm left." For 54 years, turkeys raised by three generations of the Roperti family have been a Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner tradition for hundreds of families in the Detroit area. Some customers have been depending on the Ropertis for their holiday gobblers for 30 years or more. "We used to grow all our own corn, wheat and oats on 250 acres, including two large fields near Six Mile and Haggerty roads, where a shopping center now stands," Roperti recalled. The family now purchases the grain it feeds its large Wilford White turkeys, but otherwise the five-acre family farm at 34700 Five Mile Road continues operating as it has for years. "Wilfords are a large breed of turkeys that are very breasty and very meaty," Roperti said. "I get the turkeys when they are 8 to 9 weeks old and weigh about 2 pounds from my grower in Zeeland. I pick up the turkeys around the last week in August so I can sell them from Oct. 1 to Dec. 23." The secret to good tasting turkeys is the right diet, she said. In fact, the company motto on fliers distributed in neighborhoods in Oakland and Wayne counties tells customers of the importance of what a turkey is fed: "Remember, fresh is not the secret. The secret is what they've been fed." "Animals are what they eat, and that goes for turkeys, too," Roperti explained. "Our turkeys are fed corn, wheat and oats that are mixed with a high-protein mash from the time they arrive (until) the last two weeks before they are killed, when they are fed nothing but corn. "The larger turkey farms can't feed the turkeys the way I can because they can't get their money back," she said. "Some allow their turkeys to graze, feed them fish meal or anything that's cheap." The busiest time of the year for the Ropertis is the four-day period immediately before Thanksgiving, when about 4,000 of the turkeys are killed and dressed by the family and a seasonal staff of 35 employees who set up a production line. "For those four days before Thanksgiving, I'm working 17, 18 or 19 hours a day," she said. "I just can't sleep any more than four or five hours when we get to that time of the year." During these hectic times, Christine runs the store; her oldest son, Tony, is in charge of killing the turkeys in the "red room"; her husband, Wesley Bates, runs the scalding and defeathering room; her youngest son, Tom, runs the dressing table; and Tom's wife, Ferida, acts as the farm's secretary. Besides getting turkeys ready for the roaster or deep fryer, the family also sells turkey smoked for 12 hours right on the premises, using apple and cherry wood with a little wet hickory thrown on top. Ironically, when it comes to Thanksgiving dinner, the Roperti family takes a pass on turkey. "My family has seen too many turkeys at that point and would hang me up like a dead turkey if I put turkey on the table," Roperti said. "Thanksgiving is sort of a party for us. "For Thanksgiving, we have filet mignon, lobster and stone crabs and key lime pie that my niece sends up here every year from Florida," she said. "She sends us the stone crabs and key lime pie in exchange for a turkey, of course."

©The Daily Oakland Press 2004

Memories of Salem - 1940's - Take Care with Change

June 6 - Hosted a quarterly meeting with State Representative Alma Wheeler Smith and Senator Liz Brater to discuss topics of interest within the District they represent.  There were only two attendees at this meeting which, in addition to discussiontopics such as the State budget, and the affect of high fuel costs, it gave us an opportunity to reflect on the state of the economy and what has gone wrong.  Michigan had a strong economy for years, a lot of it due to the automobile business, but clearly something has changed. 

Now here's an amazing coincidence - I guess you can file it under "it's a small world."   It was about the year 1944 or '45 that Jim Craven, who owned the Morningside Horse Stable on Hubbard Rd in Livonia, bought the property on Five Mile Rd.  He also worked the 80-acre farm we lived on Five Mile Rd (Livonia) since we were not into farming at that time.  My Dad and Jim shared rides to the Ford Rouge Plant where they worked the afternoon shift on the assembly line.  Jim, his wife who sang gospel songs in the church choir, and his daughters handled farm chores including caring for the riding stable and planting/harvesting farm crops.  I can remember that we could hear Mrs. Craven signing gospel songs, her voice ringing out over the land, and above the putt-putt of the two-cylinder John Deere tractor.