WikiPeteia

I was born on Tuesday, April 7, 1953, the 98th day of the year. My Zodiac sign is Aries. Chinese Year of the Snake.

On April 7, 30 AD, by many scholars’ reckoning, Jesus was crucified by Roman troops in Jerusalem.

1953 Happenings: Hit songs: “How Much is the Doggie in the Window” sung by Patti Page (8 weeks at #1) and Rock Around the Clock; TV Guide debuts; FCC approves first color TV’s (sell for $1,175 1953 dollars); transistor radios appear; National Football League Champions, Detroit Lions (yes, the Lions!); Sir Edmund Hillary first to reach summit of Mount Everest; Dwight Eisenhower sworn in as president, Richard Nixon Vice President; I Love Lucy episode where she has a baby, Little Ricky, is watched by 71.1% of viewers, a record; Disney’s Peter Pan in theaters; Academy Awards broadcast on TV, a first (best movie, From Here to Eternity); Rock and Roll getting popular; Jonas Salk develops Polio vaccine; first Chevrolet Corvette, built in Flint MI; Senator John F. Kennedy marries Jacqueline Lee Bouvier; Tator tots debut; Elizabeth II crowned Queen; Playboy magazine (50 cents) debuts with nude centerfold photo of Marilyn Monroe; Olympian Jim Thorpe dies; Born in 1953 other than me…Tim Allen, Ken Burns, Hulk Hogan, Pat Benatar, Cyndi Lauper, Pierce Brosnan, Matthew Broderick, Rick Moranis and Kim Basinger.
1953 Prices: Average income, $4,011; New car, $1,651; New house, 9,525; Gallon of gas, .20; Gallon of milk, .94; Movie ticket, .70; Average Rent; $83 month; Tuition to Harvard University, $600 per year; Minimum wage, .75; Life expectancy, 68.2 years.

*THE BEST PLACE TO BE IS TOGETHER

*I thought growing old would take longer

*There are times now that I feel like that old Chinese scholar Yung No Mo

This appeared in The Shield May 2011 with title Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Pete Bowers.

*Success

You can use most any measure

When you're speaking of success.

You can measure it in fancy home,

Expensive car or dress.

But the measure of your real success

Is the one you cannot spend.

It's the way your kids describe you

When they're talking to a friend.

*A father considers his wealth not in possessions, but in the happiness of his family.

*Any man can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a Dad.

*No male can know the intense love a Dad has for his son until he has one.

*I care about my sons so much that it approaches Dad Nauseam.

*Worrying won’t stop the bad stuff from happening, it just keeps you from enjoying the good.

*Not to spoil the ending for you but everything is going to be OK.

*Life is just one damn thing after another (Mark Twain)

*Having a dog (or cat) will bless you with the happiest days of your life, and one of the worst days.

*May the work I have done speak for me.

*The idea is to die young as late as possible.

*I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it (Mark Twain)

*My Living Will: Last night, my kids and I were sitting in the living room and said to them, “I never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and fluids from a bottle. If that ever happens, just pull the plug. They got up, unplugged the computer and threw out my wine.

*I expect more of you than that (Kevin Arnold’s mom to Kevin, in The Wonder Years)

*I touch the future, I teach (Christa McAuliffe)

*A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops (Henry Brooks Adams)

*Teaching is the profession that teaches all the other professions (unknown)

*Teaching seems to me beyond doubt the greatest of the professions (Theodore Brameld)

*A teacher is one of the most special people in the world, for who else could spend day after day giving of themselves to someone else’s children (Deanna Beisser)

*What matters is not how many high grades you’ve earned, but if you’ve been inspired by what you’ve learned (Jacqueline Schiff)

*Much have I learned from my teachers, more from my colleagues, but most from my students (Tal Mud)

*Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire (William Butler Yeats)

*The essence of education is not to stuff you with facts but to help you discover your uniqueness, to teach you how to develop it, and then to show you how to give it away (Leo Buscaglia)

*Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater (Gail Godwin)

*A Teacher’s Prayer: Dear God, help me to see each of my children as uncut diamonds; needing only enough pressure to knock off the rough edges so that the brilliance You have placed in each of their hearts will always shine through.

*The teachers of this country, one may say, have its future in their hands (William James)

*I’ve come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is MY response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized. Haim Ginott from Teacher and Child, 1972.

*Experience is the hardest kind of teacher. It gives you the test first and the lesson afterward. Oscar Wilde

*Be yourself. Everyone else is taken. Oscar Wilde

*Teaching: We’re not in it for the income. We’re in it for the outcome.

*Man is made God’s plaything, and that is the best part of him. Therefore, every man and woman should live life accordingly: Life must be lived as play. (Plato)

*Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it. You can always count on Americans to do the right thing-after they’ve tried everything else. I may be drunk Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly. (Winston Churchill)

*You better lose yourself in the music, the moment, you own it, you better never let it go, you only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow, this opportunity comes once in a lifetime (Marshall Mathers aka Eminem)

*When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down “happy”. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment and I told them they didn’t understand life (John Lennon)

*Weddings of former students I attended: Jennifer Purtan, Dave McClary, Jake Neher, JoAnne Purtan, Ed Borus and Jenny Stanczyk (student teacher).

*Students who attended my wedding: Stu Best, Dave McClary, Kathy Martens, Patty McPhee and Jennifer Purtan.

*Funerals and/or shivas of students I have attended: Ken Fish (1980), Scott Booth (2008), Kevin Day (2007), Mark Reedy (2010), Brian Donegan (2005). Other students who died but I was not able to attend their funeral and/or shiva: Renee Abraham, David Lipski, Kristin Oswald (2000), Ted Moore (2019), Kirk Miller (2018) and Larry Barron (2020).

People I have tweeted to on Twitter…and they either liked my tweet or tweeted back to me: Tim Allen, Henry Winkler, Danika McKeller (Winnie), Ginger Zee, Gary Peters, Dylan Dreyer, Adam F. Goldberg, Brett Dier, Joy Bauer, Sheri Jones, Sofi K, Alexi Lalas, Dana Jacobson, Karsch and Anderson, JoAnne Purtan, Jake Neher, Kym Douglas, Laura Hartman, Mark Snyder, George Lessens, Jesse Bruce, Ellen Bacca, Jamal Spencer, Jana, Theresa Lucas, Sarah Makuta, Dave Fuller, Matt Friedman, Ric Blackwell, Nick LaFave, Rob Simpson, Sheinelle Jones, Tom Hillen, Michael Behrens, Justin Barclay, PK Sports, Jerry Funk, Katherine Noel, Aaron Ofseyer, Carly Gendell, Alana Nehring, Last Man Standing.

Teachers who have made an impact on my life in no particular order: Barry Crowe (West Hills Jr. High PE Teacher and Recreation summer camp director; Bruce Chapman (West Hills Jr. High English/Drama teacher; Duane Sheldon (West Hills Jr. High Social Studies Teacher; Don Lytle, Andover High School English Teacher; Mike Kinter (Andover English/Speech Teacher; Dr. Pete Orlik (CMU Broadcast and Cinematic Arts Chair/Professor.

I am a Pioneer Ancestor since I’m related to Major Oliver Williams who settled in the State of Michigan prior to December 31, 1837. Michigan was admitted to the Union in January, 1937.

I’m a Pioneer Ancestor because I’m related to Jonas Bowers who settled in the State of Michigan prior to December 31, 1837. Michigan was admitted to the Union in January, 1837.

Odd things about me . . . a game played on Facebook…so I played along…
1. Do you put ketchup on hotdogs? No…mustard and relish

2. Choice of Pop? I don’t drink pop anymore, but when I did…Mountain Dew, followed by Coke. I was a Pepsi guy years ago…went to Coke. Used to also drink Squirt, Vernors and Canada Dry Ginger Ale.
3. Do you put sugar on tomatoes? Yes
4. Ever sailed in a sailboat? Yes, we had a Sunfish sailboat we would sail on Lower Long Lake in Bloomfield Hills. Have sailed on my brother Jim’s sailboat (Lightning) on Cass Lake
5. How do you eat your steak? I don’t eat steak anymore but when I did…Medium well.
6.What is your favorite type of food? Seafood (all varieties except raw oysters) and fruit.
7. Ever find pipe bombs in a radio tower? Yes. See Blog entitled 15 Minutes of Fame.
8. What do you drink in the morning? Coffee (hazelnut, Dunkin’ Donuts)
9. Can you stand on your head? Not now, but I did once in my FORB class once as I said to them “I would stand on my head for you”.
10. Favorite season? Summer. Winter is my fourth favorite season.
11. Your favorite animal? Cats, followed closely by dogs. I do get excited when I see a deer.
12. Tattoos? Never have, never will.
13. Ever got bitten by a German Shepard? Yes! 1983 running down a road, training for marathon, dog ran out and bit me on the leg.
14. Do you have a fear? German Shepards with big teeth.
15. Do you have a nickname? PB, Mr. B, Bowco, PBizzle, Peebs, Pistol. Radio Air Names: Nighthawk, Scott Marsh, Dr. Jock, Pepper Brooks.
16. Favorite French impressionist painter? Claude Monet (I have one Monet reproduction in my family room)
17. Ever climb a 14,000 foot mountain? Two…Mt. Elbert and Longs Peak…both in Colorado.
18. Ever been the Best Man in a wedding? No, but I consider myself the Best Man at every wedding I attend…lol.
19. Can you drive a stick? Yes…drove a ‘65 Corvair in high school and a VW bug in the 70’s, both had stick shifts.
20. Electric razor or disposable razer? Used to use electric, not anymore…disposable Gillette Mach 3 now
21. Children? Two boys, the Bowers Boyz! Amazing young men, SO PROUD!
22. Ever get a Masters Degree? Yes, from Madonna University in Educational Leadership.
23. Can you play a musical instrument? No…although I tried playing trombone in 6th grade. My boys have musical talent, I don’t.
24. Where were you born? Detroit (Women’s Hospital…now Hutzel Hospital)
25. Surgeries? Knee (torn cartilage), Appendectomy, Umbilical Hernia, Foot/toes (corrective surgery), skin cancer (Basal cell)
26. Ever run a marathon, 26.2 miles? Yes…see Blog entitled Running a Marathon.
27. Last song you heard? You’re the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me (Gladys Knight and the Pips)
28. Broken bones? Yes (right arm/compound, left arm, finger, collarbone (bike accident), toe
29. Boxers or briefs? Briefs…Hanes long leg boxer brief.
30. Worst pain? Tie between kidney stone #1 and #2, umbilical hernia surgery, and shingles. Those pains went away in time. Pain in my foot following corrective foot surgery is constant…never goes away (thanks to Dr. Stock’s surgery team who made five surgical errors).
31. Morning drink? Coffee…preferably Dunkin’ Donuts coffee.
32. Favorite kind of apple? Evercrisp…A special apple I buy at an apple orchard market in Hart, MI…eat one a day! 2nd favorite: Honeycrisp
33. Do you like to go camping? I did a lot in my youth but not so much anymore. I still have a tent and cot.
34. What do you binge watch? The Wonder Years, Home Improvement, Last Man Standing.
35. Pie or cake? Pie (fruit pies like cherry, apple, raspberry, rhubarb, blueberry).
36. Candy? Tie between Boston Baked Beans, Smarties, Peanut M&Ms, and French Burnt Peanuts.

Employment History’…jobs I’ve had:

*mowing neighbor’s lawn, (teenager, $3 per mow)

*Forest Lake Country Club caddie, summer job (teenager)

*BHSD Recreation Dept. Summer Day Camp Counselor, Summer Day Camp Assistant Director, Summer Day Camp Director; Fall Youth Soccer Coach, Fall Youth Soccer Assistant Director

*Pine Knob Music Theater usher, summer job (one summer)

*WCHP Radio Salesperson, Sales Director (two years while at CMU)

*Horn of Plenty (Birmingham MI), delivery person (seasonal job, one winter)

*General Motors Truck, Pontiac MI, light truck assembly, summer job (one summer)

*WBFH Station Manager, Radio Broadcasting Teacher 1976-2017 (Dream Job, Career, Passion, Legacy)

*Booth Communications, Cable TV Sales (1980). While I was working my day job, I was working nights by selling cable TV service to people in Birmingham. Service had just started so people were excited to get cable TV…worked on commission…quit after a few months

*Wedding Photographer (one wedding)

*BHSD Recreation Dept.: Be a DJ Super Saturday program supervisor (Saturday mornings); Daddy-Daughter Dance DJ (20 years)

*Andover High School Mobile DJ: Homecoming Dances, Daddy-Daughter-Dinner-Dances.

*Lahser High School Mobile DJ: Homecoming Dances, Sadie Hawkins Dances, Proms

*Chaperone for a group of Andover High School seniors for their Spring Break trip to the Bahamas (get them there, get them back)

*Mobile DJ/MC: Three weddings, a Sweet 16 Party, a birthday party, a class reunion and a few graduation parties

*Radio Broadcasting Consultant: Clark County School District, nation’s fifth largest school district (Las Vegas NV), one time consultation

Drawing of me in 1967 by famed portrait artist Gordon Schulte. He lived in White Lake and died in 2005. Drawing was done from my 9th grade yearbook photo, I didn’t sit for him or anything like that. In fact, I’m not sure why this was even done…a mystery to me.

Where have I lived…in order (all in Michigan):

*1953 birth to age 1: Cedardale Ave. in Pontiac behind St. Joseph Mercy Oakland Hospital. (House has been torn down)

*1954-1963: 199 Barrington, Bloomfield Hills (3 bedroom ranch with no basement)

*1963-1978: 3355 Franklin Rd., Bloomfield Hills. Note…lived in Mt. Pleasant for four years 1971-1975 while attending Central Michigan University.

*1978-1979: Woodrow Wilson Blvd, one bedroom apartment in Keego Harbor (first year of marriage)

*1979-1980: Duplex on Waldo St. in Pontiac (a little more space than the apartment)

*1980-1982: 3355 Franklin, Bloomfield Hills (moved in with parents to save money to buy a house)

*1982-1987: 1240 Dorchester Ave., Bloomfield Hills (our first house bought with money saved by living with parents)(Adam born during this time)

*1987-1993: 129 Eileen Dr., Bloomfield Hills (3 bedroom ranch house in the Bloomfield Hills School District)(Eric born during this time)

*1993-2005: 400 Kendry Ave., Bloomfield Hills (bigger house, colonial)

*2005-2017: 2893 Deer Ridge Dr., Milford (moving to the sticks, 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath on acre lot)

*2017-2018: Alpine Ct., Spring Lake (condo, rental, noisy, worst place I ever lived)

*2018-present: Arthur Ct., Spring Lake (condo, backs up to cemetery)

This was drawn by a caricature artist at our senior all-night party following Commencement in 1971.

What do I want to be when I grow up?

I found a 3X5 card with what looks like my thoughts on what I would like to be when I grow up…I don’t know how old I was when I wrote it. This is the list in the order I wrote it: Elementary Gym Teacher, Sports Writer, Radio and Television, Politics, Ecologist, Advertising, and Pro Photographer. I did Radio in my first career; I was a Sports Writer when I was in high school and college; I minored in photojournalism in college…had my own darkroom once where I developed film and printed photos of day campers and sold them to their parents; In day camp for eight summers, I played sports and games with elementary kids like an Elementary Gym Teacher would; I did dabble in politics being elected president of grades 4, 6, 9 and 12. In high school, I participated in the Andover Students for Environmental Quality walk on Earth Day; I was Sales Manager at WCHP radio in college where I sold commercial airtime, then wrote the commercials, recorded some too. So the only one I didn’t do at all of the group of careers is Television. I was on TV news once when I found pipe bombs in the base of the WBFH radio tower, but that doesn’t count. Do I still have time to do anything on TV?

People may not know this about me. I’ve made six 8 mm movies, three in high school and three in college. My most popular movie was the one I made at CMU where I convinced Claudia to be the star in it. The plot was strange. She starts to eat a hamburger and the hamburger grows teeth and chases her around her apartment. Then the hamburger eats Claudia. The special effects were awesome…just kidding…they were bad.

Found another sheet…not sure when it was written. The title was “What I Want in Life”:

*A house in the metro Detroit area

*Try a stand up comedy act

*Race go-carts

*Write a book

*Record a comedy album

*Own a restaurant

*Write and star in a movie

*Have my own local kids TV show

*Write songs

*Develop hobby that I can sell

*Get a ham radio license and have my own amateur (ham) radio station

I have this thing with coins. I collect all different kinds of coins and keep them in plastic bags. I have them organized by decade (20’s, 30’s, 40’s etc), JFK silver dollars, Eisenhower dollars, Susan B. Anthony dollars, Sacagawea dollars, Bicentennial coins, Presidential dollar coins, Canadian coins/paper money, other Foreign coins/paper money, Euros, British coins, Liberty walking half dollar, Let’s Roll! quarter, Michigan state quarters, 1953 Franklin half dollar, 1884 Morgan dollar, Indian head nickels, 1864 Indian head penny, $2 dollar bills and special coins by year: 1917 (Mom’s birth year), 1918 (Dad’s birth year), 1947 (Jim’s birth year), 1951 (Tom’s birth year), 1953 (my birth year), 1954 (Claudia’s birth year), 1971 (High school graduation), 1973 (year I started in radio), 1974 (year I met Claudia), 1975 (college graduation), 1976 (Bicentennial and year I started at WBFH), 1978 (marriage to Claudia), 1985 (year Adam and Sarah were born), 1988 (year Cheryl was born), 1990 (year Eric was born) and 2017 (year I retired). I’ll hold up a 1953 penny and say “this penny is as old as me…which one is doing better?” One thing I do just for fun is to give people a coin (usually a penny) from their birth year and say the same thing…this coin is as old as you…it’s your lucky coin…keep it in remembrance of me. It’s weird, I know, but I actually look at the year on the coins I get in change for something I buy. Also weird…I keep a coin in my pocket every day for whoever may be needing attention that day. For example, if it’s Claudia’s birthday, I keep a 1954 coin in my pocket to honor the occasion. On our anniversary, I keep a 1978 coin in my pocket. Etc. etc. Really weird…I’ve learned some coin magic tricks from YouTube videos during the stay at home orders and have tried them out on friends. Amazing!

Non-profits I support financially:

*Central Michigan University (Broadcast and Cinematic Arts Department)

*Central Michigan University (Alumni Gold Member)

*WGVU Public Media, Grand Rapids (Public Radio/NPR, Public Television/PBS)

*Harbor Humane Society, West Olive (pet adoption services)

*Michigan Humane (adopt a pet services)

*Michigan Animal Rescue League, Pontiac (finding homes for pets)

*Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, Grand Rapids (pediatric acute care facility)

*Michigan Radio (public radio/NPR out of Grand Rapids)

*American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA)

I’m a huge fan of Tim Allen. We actually have several similarities: We were both born in 1953; We were both raised Episcopalian; He graduated from Birmingham Seaholm High School, I graduated from Bloomfield Hills Andover High School, both class of 1971, both affluent suburbs of Detroit that border each other; We both attended Central Michigan University after high school, him for two years, me for four years; We both worked at a college radio station, him on WIDR (Western Michigan U), me on WCHP (CMU); We both graduated with a degree in communications specializing in Radio and TV production; He married Laura Deibel on April 7, 1984, I was born on April 7; He’s written two books, I’ve read two books; He’s starred in several movies, I’ve watched all of his movies; He’s on TV, I watch him on TV; He’s won awards from the Golden Globes, People’s Choice, Kid’s Choice, TV Guide and TV Land, I’ve been inducted into the Michigan Broadcasting Hall of Fame. He does the Pure Michigan commercials, I was born in Detroit and have lived in Michigan my whole life, a Pure Michigan kind of guy! He visits Michigan on occasion…I sure would like to meet him.

Tank you Tim!

A What Was I Thinking moment, I bought this 1956 DeSoto Fireflite Sportsman 2 door hardtop from a guy in Clarkston. Thought it would be cool to tool around town in it. It wasn’t as cool as I thought once I started to pay for repairs. Sold it for a loss…lesson learned.