Linda’s Monthly Monday Morning Moaning’s for December 1, 2025
For the last 18 years, the time frame I have lived in this area, I have traveled Mound Road at 31 Mile, sometime as much as a few days each week, and always pasted this sad bit of history sitting close to the road and abandoned. I wrote about the school in the ‘Washington Township’ book in 2019, always with the hope that something could be done to save this bit of Washington history. Every winter, I would have the thought, that one day I would drive past and she would be nothing but a pile of lumber. This past summer, our township Supervisor Sam Previti finally was able to close the deal for purchase, from the owners, and plans were put into place for the move to its new home. Just a look back on how this all started:
James M. Thorington was born on 26 January of 1837 in Washington Township the son of James and Sally Brown Thorington. His father would work the farm for 30 years being involved with agriculture and buying land. When he retired, he owned 700 acres in Washington. When James M married Mary Starkweather in 1857 and they raised 5 children on their 320 acre farm on Mound Road between 30 and 31 Mile Roads. James Thorington Sr. owned the 1/8 acre on which the school stands, with it being a part of his 158 acre farm. When the elder James Thorington died, his son James M. took over his farm and would continue to lease the school property. The school was in operation from the 1840’s untill it finally closed in 1955.
On Wednesday October 24, 2025, the day had come for her to be moved to the new area on 31 Mile that will be her new home. With the help of the Romeo High School, teachers, administrators, and students who have designed the new park area, and will be the hand ons workers bringing this bit of history back to it’s original form again.
Starting her move onto Mound RoadHaving made the right turn onto 31 Mile and passing the Brabb Cemetery Waiting to be backed over the new foundation, in the field that will become Thorington Park
I am not sure how many blogs I have written about this school, but the next and probably last one will be sometime in the future when all the work is completed and she becomes a learning tool for students to see what life was like 100 years ago when students of all ages where learning in the same one room school house. With the start of its new roof, and the original bell secured, it’s nice to know that history can still be saved from neglect and made new again.
Hoping your Holiday Season and the New Year coming is safe and happy. On that wee’ note till next month, Monday January 5, 2026.
I would like to thank the Detroit News Paper for use of their images, and the Washington Township station WBRW for spectacular video, that can be seen on Utube, of the moving process it took to get the school to it’s new home.
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Linda’s Monthly Monday Morning Moaning’s for November 3, 2025.
At 8:30 a.m. on November 9, 1975, in Superior, Wisconsin, the loading began of taconite pellets on the Edmund Fitzgerald, and by 2:52 p.m. the ‘Fitz’ sailed past the Superior break wall and out into the vast expanse of Lake Superior, headed to Zug Island in Detroit. At 2:00 a.m. on November 10th, the National Weather Service upgrades an earlier gale warning to a storm warning.
At noon and through midday, with the Arthur Anderson freighter trailing the ‘Fitz’, the storm, with high winds turned into a blinding snowstorm, the ‘Fitz’ asked the Anderson to stay by her, when she radioed she had a ‘bad list’. The last contact with the Arthur Anderson was at 7:10 when they were told the ‘Fitz’ was “holding her own”. By 7:25, the Edmund Fitzgerald had disappeared from radar and from the visual sight of the Anderson, while in Canadian waters on Lake Superior.
“The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down, of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee. The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead, when the skies of November turn gloomy. With a load of iron ore, twenty six thousand tons more, than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighted empty. That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed, when the gales of November came early.”
One week from today, on Monday November 10, comes the fiftieth anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Now the remains of the ‘Fitz’ lies in 530 feet of water in Lake Superior, just north of Whitefish Point, Michigan. The ship rests in two major sections, with the bow sitting upright with a partial burial in the lakebed, while the stern lies capsized at a steep angle 170 feet away. Between them, scattered debris includes hatch covers, hull plating, and taconite pellets from her final cargo.
“The ship was the pride of the American side, coming back from some mill in Wisconsin, As big freighters go, it was bigger than most with a crew and good captain well seasoned. Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms, when they left fully loaded for Cleveland. And later that night when the ship’s bell rang, could it be the north wind they’d been feeling?”
The structure is still largely intact, though it shows signs of collapse from its decades underwater. The surveys taken have recorded a gradual deterioration of the deck plating and the openings in the hull, but the outline of the ship remains recognizable. The site is treated as gravesite and is legally protected by the Canadian government, so diving is restricted to observation only.
“Does any one know where the love of God goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours? The searchers all say they’d have made Whitefish Bay if they’d put fifteen more mile behind her. They might have split up or they might have capsized, they might have broken deep and took water. All that remains is the faces and the names of the wives and the sons and the daughters.”
In 1995, the ship’s original bell was recovered and replaced with a replica bell. The recovered bell has been preserved and is displayed at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point, in Michigan along with the Whitefish Point Lighthouse, is a memorial to the 29 seamen who lost their lives.
“In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed in the Maritime Sailors Cathedral. The church bell chimed till it rang twenty-nine times for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald. The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down on the big lake they call Gitchee Gumee, Superior, they said, never gives up her dead, when the gales of November comes early.”
A gracious thank you to all the Mariners, who have sailed the Great Lakes and made this their life work. Thank you to John U. Bacon for his just published new book the ‘The Gales of November’, and Ella Andra-Warner for her book ‘Edmund Fitzgerald, The Legendary Great Lake Shipwreck’, and the estate of the late Gordon Lightfoot for partial use of ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’, a most beautiful work for memorizing these very brave seamen, the ‘Lakers’ who travel our Great Lakes.
On this ‘wee note’ till Monday December 1, 2025.
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Linda’s Monthly Monday Morning Moaning’s for October 6, 2025.
This is a shorten version of a wonderful book I read a number of years ago. ‘The Day the World Came to Town’ 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland, written in 2002 by journalist Jim DeFrede. This story is a bit longer than the usual blogs and this happened 24 years ago, but I hope you will find it worth your time. This portion is written by the air hostess with the airline:
On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001 we were about 5 hours out of Frankfurt, flying over the North Atlantic. All of a sudden the curtains parted and I was told to go to the cockpit, immediately, to see the captain. As soon as I got there I noticed that the crew had that “All Business” look on their faces. The captain handed me a printed message. It was from Delta’s main office in Atlanta and simply read, “All airways over the Continental United States are closed to commercial air traffic. Land ASAP at the nearest airport. Advise your destination.”
No one said a word about what this could mean. We knew it was a serious situation and we needed to find terra firma quickly. The captain determined that the nearest airport was 400 miles behind us in Gander, Newfoundland. He requested approval for a route change from the Canadian traffic controller and approval was granted immediately — no questions asked. We found out later, of course, why there was no hesitation in approving our request. While the flight crew prepared the airplane for landing, another message arrived from Atlanta telling us about some terrorist activity in the New York area. A few minutes later word came in about the hijackings.
We decided to lie to the passengers while we were still in the air. We told them the plane had a simple instrument problem and that we needed to land at the nearest airport in Gander, Newfoundland, to have it checked out. We promised to give more information after landing in Gander. There was much grumbling among the passengers, but that’s nothing new! Forty minutes later, we landed at Gander International Airport in Canada. Local time at Gander was 12:30 PM …. that’s 11:00 AM EST.
There were already about 20 other airplanes on the ground from all over the world that had taken this detour on their way to the US. After we parked on the ramp, the captain made the following announcement: “Ladies and gentlemen, you must be wondering if all these airplanes around us have the same instrument problem as we have. The reality is that we are here for another reason.”Then he went on to explain the little bit we knew about the situation in the US. There were loud gasps and stares of disbelief. The captain informed passengers that Ground control in Gander told us to stay put.
The Canadian Government was in charge of our situation and no one was allowed to get off the aircraft. No one on the ground was allowed to come near any of the air crafts. Only airport police would come around periodically, look us over and go on to the next airplane. In the next hour or so more planes landed and Gander ended up with 53 airplanes from all over the world, 27 of which were US commercial jets. Meanwhile, bits of news started to come in over the aircraft radio and for the first time we learned that airplanes were flown into the World Trade Center in New York and into the Pentagon in DC.
People were trying to use their cell phones, but were unable to connect due to a different cell system in Canada . Some did get through, but were only able to get to the Canadian operator who would tell them that the lines to the U.S. were either blocked or jammed. Sometime in the evening the news filtered to us that the World Trade Center buildings had collapsed and that a fourth hijacking had resulted in a crash. By now the passengers were emotionally and physically exhausted, not to mention frightened, but everyone stayed amazingly calm.
We had only to look out the window at the 52 other stranded aircraft to realize that we were not the only ones in this predicament. We had been told earlier that they would be allowing people off the planes one plane at a time. At 6 PM, Gander airport told us that our turn to deplane would be 11 am the next morning. Passengers were not happy, but they simply resigned themselves to this news without much noise and started to prepare themselves to spend the night on the airplane. Gander had promised us medical attention, if needed, water, and lavatory servicing.
And they were true to their word.
Fortunately we had no medical situations to worry about. We did have a young lady who was 33 weeks into her pregnancy. We took REALLY good care of her. The night passed without incident despite the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements. About 10:30 on the morning of the 12th a convoy of school buses showed up. We got off the plane and were taken to the terminal where we went through Immigration and Customs and then had to register with the Red Cross. After that we (the crew) were separated from the passengers and were taken in vans to a small hotel. We had no idea where our passengers were going. We learned from the Red Cross that the town of Gander has a population of 10,400 people and they had about 10,500 passengers to take care of from all the airplanes that were forced into Gander! We were told to just relax at the hotel and we would be contacted when the US airports opened again, but not to expect that call for a while.
We found out the total scope of the terror back home only after getting to our hotel and turning on the TV, 24 hours after it all started. Meanwhile, we had lots of time on our hands and found that the people of Gander were extremely friendly. They started calling us the “plane people.” We enjoyed their hospitality, explored the town of Gander and ended up having a pretty good time. Two days later, we got that call and were taken back to the Gander airport. Back on the plane, we were reunited with the passengers and found out what they had been doing for the past two days.
What we found out was incredible…..
Gander and all the surrounding communities (within about a 75 Kilometer radius) had closed all high schools, meeting halls, lodges, and any other large gathering places. They converted all these facilities to mass lodging areas for all the stranded travelers. Some had cots set up, some had mats with sleeping bags and pillows set up. ALL the high school students were required to volunteer their time to take care of the “guests.” Our 218 passengers ended up in a town called Lewisporte, about 45 kilometers from Gander where they were put up in a high school. If any women wanted to be in a women-only facility, that was arranged. Families were kept together. All the elderly passengers were taken to private homes. Remember that young pregnant lady? She was put up in a private home right across the street from a 24-hour Urgent Care facility. There was a dentist on call and both male and female nurses remained with the crowd for the duration.
Phone calls and e-mails to the U.S. and around the world were available to everyone once a day. During the day, passengers were offered “Excursion” trips. Some people went on boat cruises of the lakes and harbors. Some went for hikes in the local forests. Local bakeries stayed open to make fresh bread for the guests. Food was prepared by all the residents and brought to the schools. People were driven to restaurants of their choice and offered wonderful meals. Everyone was given tokens for local laundry mats to wash their clothes, since luggage was still on the aircraft.
In other words, every single need was met for those stranded travelers.
Passengers were crying while telling us these stories. Finally, when they were told that U.S. airports had reopened, they were delivered to the airport right on time and without a single passenger missing or late. The local Red Cross had all the information about the whereabouts of each and every passenger and knew which plane they needed to be on and when all the planes were leaving. They coordinated everything beautifully.
It was absolutely incredible.
When passengers came on board, it was like they had been on a cruise. Everyone knew each other by name. They were swapping stories of their stay, impressing each other with who had the better time. Our flight back to Atlanta looked like a chartered party flight. The crew just stayed out of their way. It was mind-boggling. Passengers had totally bonded and were calling each other by their first names, exchanging phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses.
And then a very unusual thing happened.
One of our passengers approached me and asked if he could make an announcement over the PA system. We never, ever allow that. But this time was different. I said “of course” and handed him the mike. He picked up the PA and reminded everyone about what they had just gone through in the last few days. He reminded them of the hospitality they had received at the hands of total strangers. He continued by saying that he would like to do something in return for the good folks of Lewisporte. “He said he was going to set up a Trust Fund under the name of DELTA 15 (our flight number). The purpose of the trust fund is to provide college scholarships for the high school students of Lewisporte. He asked for donations of any amount from his fellow travelers. When the paper with donations got back to us with the amounts, names, phone numbers and addresses, the total was for more than $14,000! “The gentleman, a MD from Virginia , promised to match the donations and to start the administrative work on the scholarship. He also said that he would forward this proposal to Delta Corporate and ask them to donate as well. As I write this account, the trust fund is at more than $1.5 million and has assisted 134 students in college education.
I don’t know if this will hit a small emotional cord in you, as it has in me, even addressing this book again, if you are able to find this book at your local library or Amazon, etc, it is well worth the read, to hear the complete story of how the Gander people made these strangers feel as at home, as humanly possible during a very uncertain time.
I wanted to share this story because we need good stories right now. It gives me a little bit of hope to know that some people in a faraway place were kind to some strangers who literally dropped in on them. It reminds me how much good there really is. In spite of all the rotten things we see going on in today’s world this story confirms that there are still a lot of good people in the world and when things get bad, they will come forward.
This is one of those stories that needs to be shared. Please do so…
On that ‘wee note’ till next month, Monday, November 3, 2025
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Linda’s Monthly Monday Morning Moaning’s for September 1, 2025
Some months ago, I wrote about the SS United States, the liner often called ‘America’s Liner’, when she was towed from her berth at Pier 80 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Mobile, Alabama in February of 2025, where she had been waiting for 30 some years. I have followed this ship for many years, with the ships manifest, memorabilia and photographic images, because it was on this ship my parents and I immigrated to this country from Great Britain in the mid 1950’s. She was the ‘Queen of the American’ fleet of liners during her time between 1954 and 1969, until air flights took the place of ships moving people from continent to continent.
As she will become, the world’s largest artificial reef, the story of the ‘SSUS’ will be told to thousands of divers from around the world as they explore her unique design and features. She will also benefit the surrounding ecosystem and become home to countless marine species that will thrive from the presence of her structure. A land based museum will be built to teach the many students, and general public about William Gibbs, an American Navel Architect and his creation. The winner of the Blue Riband, for the fastest transatlantic passenger crossing between Britain and the United States, she would continue to hold that title.
This article today is about the removal of the smoke stacks (funnels) that will be used as a part of the land based museum. For the present time the ship is docked in Mobile, Alabama. Her story will continue but in another form and in a different way.
Moving the last stack by barge.
The Queen without her iconic stacks.
Now she waits, her propeller, while having been removed and placed on her deck 30 years ago, will be stored along with her funnels. Her fuel tanks, are sterilized and anything harmful to marine life and the surrounding water is cleaned and made safe, she will then be moved out to sea, to become the world’s largest artificial reef.
Thank you to the SS United States Conservancy, for the updates and images and all they have done over these last many years, to find a new home and salvage her history for further study and enjoyment.
On that ‘wee note’ till next month, Monday, October 6, 2025.
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Linda’s Monthly Monday Morning Moaning’s for August 4, 2025
In 2020, my second book for Arcadia Publishing, ‘Macomb Township’ was published, culminating when finished, a very large learning experience for this author! Having moved to Macomb Township in 1980, at 21 Mile and Garfield Road, we built a house and along with my husband, we raised our two children, and lived there till 2007. Having found out after my first book on ‘Washington Township’ when I naively thought that EVERYONE wants a book about the area they lived in, I found that usually we have to get a bit older, before we really appreciate where we came from, and I was also, a perfect example of that mind set. It wasn’t until I had moved away and started the Macomb book, that I finally got to ‘learn’ about the township/area I had lived in for twenty-seven years! I had watched all the changes but never realized the significance of those changes.
While replenishing my Macomb books at the tax department at the township hall, where they have graciously offered to allow these books to be purchased, I sort of ran into a long time ‘friend’ once again. The ‘original’ township hall.
The original hall was built in 1919 for $1,600, and rested at 19925 23 Mile Road, it would serve the community until a ‘new township hall’ was built in the same location behind the original building in 1974. This was the township hall that we would use to pay the taxes, etc. The original hall, shown above was sold to a farmer/nursery on Romeo Plank Road just north of 23 Mile Road, and used as a shed for machinery for the next almost forty some years.
‘Old Township Hall’ with the “New Hall’ behind it
While the township would eventually purchase the Wade Nursery property, the ‘old township hall’ was again part of the Macomb Township, on property that was slated for a park area. Renovations took place, with the vision of a learning center for the hall that resembled so much of a late century school house. The township was kind enough to allow the use of the newly renovated ‘township hall’ to host the book launch of the book that was bringing the history in vintage images to life in the middle of covid, safely, with masks, no less! Before long this property was again sold, and the hall was once again moved, this time to it’s permanent home in the expanded township complex on Broughton Road off of 25 Mile Road, along with the recreation center, library and newest township hall.
The 1919 era Macomb Township original Hall T it’s new home.
On this ‘wee note’ till next month Monday September 1, 2025.
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Linda Osborne Cynowa 