Life stories

Life stories
A group of Clarkston authors wrote a book on growing up in Michigan. Photo provided
A group of Clarkston authors wrote a book on growing up in Michigan. Photo provided

BY PHIL CUSTODIO
Clarkston News Editor
Meeting every Monday morning, a local “gaggle of geezers” always has stories to share with each other.
They got together to put some of them in a book, titled “One Cup at a Time.”
“We were all concerned we’d have something to write about, but we all found once we started, there was a lot,” said Floyd “Buck” Kopietz, who wrote chapter 10 about growing up in the Upper Peninsula. “It came down to what I had to leave out.”
Chapters were also written by Bob McGowan, Carole Cotter Bodner, Dale Bond, Gerald McNally, Wally Niezguski, Dennis Ritter, Jim Reed, Chris Reading, Mel Vaara, and Bill Haney, who organized the project.
“It’s pretty amazing Bill could get us to do this,” Kopietz said. “Most of us have never done anything like this before.”
The group will host a book launch party on Oct. 19, 7-8:30 p.m., at Deer Lake Athletic Club, 6167 White Lake Road.
Copies of the book, with a foreword written by former Gov. Jennifer Granholm, will be available for signing, and the event will benefit Reading Works for adult literacy in the area.
Kopietz, who wrote about growing up in Manistique, serving in the Coast Guard, attending Oakland University, and starting a bed-and-breakfast in Clarkston, found many benefits to the project.
“You go back to think about your life. It’s extremely valuable, remembering things filed away in the dark recesses of your mind. Memories trigger other memories. It’s really a delightful exercise. I highly recommend it to others.”
The group of like-minded folks has gathered on Mondays for about eight years. Kopietz has been with them for about three.
“We’re a pretty progressive group in a conservative community,” he said. “We talk about everything.”

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