Website Acknowledgements
There are so many people whom I would like to acknowledge for my development of this site, as well as my general overall love
and appreciation of local history.
First of all, to my late mother, Rita Harrison (with me at right in 1990). She was the one who fostered my enjoyment of photography from an early age. One day as she was driving me in Southgate near the site of the present day Sam’s Club, she made the remark that I should be taking pictures of the cornfields that were there at the time because, “You never know when things may change. It may not look like this anymore.”
It was ultimately not until years later that I finally caught on. I believe my fear at the time was that developing photos the old-fashioned way would cost too much money. As is so often the case, mothers are generally correct in the perceptions of their children. She ended up being one of the research coordinators at Henry Ford Museum… It’s all in the genes!
I had two diagnoses at an early age. Doctors in the mid-1970s thought I had autistic tendencies, and thought I could never make it in a regular school. My first thanks go to former Wyandotte General Hospital speech pathologist Gwendolyn Powell, who taught me to speak independently of book text. I was also told by doctors I ended up being hyperlexic in reading & writing from a very early age. The teachers at St. Pius Elementary School in Southgate went out of their way, primarily in Grades 1-3, to place me in an advanced reading group, two levels above average grade level. I did not feel ostracized at that age; I welcomed the challenge.
Those teachers – Mary Pat Brennan, Alice Ugljesa and Kay DePerro (shown at right, with me and childhood chum Brad Labadie on the right in third grade) – worked so well with my parents, and I owe my writing skills to their continued efforts (and to Brad for being a friend in an otherwise lonely world).
My road to media experience started with my former neighbor, Dave Chapman, a photographer for the News-Herald Newspapers, who taught me camera angles and darkroom technique. To the latter skill I reflect on with much pleasure, as seeing a photo develop was a true sense of pride which can’t be experienced in modern technology.
Fr. James Bradley (with me at left in 1989) provided my first official hands-on exposure to print media while I was a junior / senior at the former Aquinas High School, and clued me in on writing a monthly school column for the News-Herald.
Cindy Hopman was their community relations coordinator at the time, and helped provide me with my first writing award in 1989. I give credit as an early influence to former News-Herald Business writer Joe Hoshaw Jr., whose articles on the former Korvette building in Southgate made me see exactly how detailed buildings’ histories could be.
The staff of Public Access station TV-34 (MacLean-Hunter, then Comcast) in Flat Rock got me into television and pointed the way to my major at present-day Henry Ford College.
Coordinators Sue Maliszewski and Rob Gelletta saw my potential and let me have the run of the studio countless times! Add to them Paul Klenczar who, with Rob, guided me through the process of producing my history show, Pages of Time, in 1995… they helped me overcome my fear of the camera. (The “terrific trio” is shown – with me at center – at one of our awards banquets in 1996 at Flat Rock Elks Club.) Historical curators I worked with during that time included Marie Vermette, Ruth Farr, and Marc Partin, who first showed me the importance of preserving Downriver history (and was more than patient with me as, at the time, I was somewhat struggling with motivation to continue on).
Henry Ford College also provided an impetus for me to pursue a telecommunications degree in the days before digital video editing, and for that there are so many. But namely, lab coordinators John Byrd & Kristin Olin-Sullivan met my enthusiasm with graciousness and patience, allowing me to run the college cable channel despite the fact it pre-empted the Learning Channel at TCI-Dearborn cable; that’s where I learned first-hand about negative customer feedback. Alan Contino was a genius behind the camera and I learned a lot about program quality from him.
Finally, I will never forget my primary media teacher, Jay Korinek (at left, in 2015), who ultimately forgave me for not having my final video project done in digital format! He made learning the craft so beneficial and fun that I ended up obtaining an honors degree when all was said & done.
I once thought that my interest in local history was limited to myself alone, but there were so many others. For that, I thank M.K. Bashlor for forming the original Facebook group in 2011, Downriver Things That Are Not There Anymore.
To Rob Imes (shown at right), whose well-detailed Downriver address history database inspired me to try my first website creation on the Tripod platform in 2012 (ads be darned). The former Weebly platform served its purpose with grace and skill from 2013-2023. All the administrators of the aforementioned Facebook group were huge factors in taking me the direction that I have today.
Currently, special thanks to Jennifer Guest, my original research partner. Her assistance and overall willingness to help has made a huge difference, especially when I fell behind on updates.
Marianne McCann Graham (shown at left, manning the Southgate Historical table at the recent open house of the former Security Bank Tower in 2026) and Cheryl Pesci (with me at right, in 2016) have been huge boosters of Downriver history, which also inspired me.
Matt Burb’s original efforts should also be commended. He knows more about the fine print of Downriver than almost anyone I’ve met; penning an entire Wiki online just to cover our little corner of the world.
Some of my most recent contacts include Linda Francetich, Craig Hutchinson, and Bethany Newton, all working with the Discover Downriver website, from which we have developed a networking partnership.
To the staff and volunteers at Bacon Memorial District Library in Wyandotte, you are tremendous. Special thanks to historian Wallace Hayden for his insight (shown at left; he just recently announced his retirement in August 2026) and to all the staffers upstairs who offer troubleshooting with their microfilm equipment.
Thanks also to the staff at Henry Ford Centennial Library in Dearborn for making their computers some of the most accessible I have seen in the library system.
My late mother would have been initially overwhelmed (as the internet was not yet available here when she passed on in 1998, when history was accessed in brief soundbytes by Microsoft’s Encarta CD), but would ultimately have been very pleased with the new ease to gain information.
Throughout the lengthy transition process from the Weebly platform to the current WordPress provider in 2026, I owe a great debt of gratitude to my roommate Stephen Patterson, from whose house I received my biggest dose of free internet in almost twenty years. From there I have been able to concentrate full-time on site research & reorganization, while attempting to master the art of AI (which has allowed me to reduce the amount of travel time to Wyandotte’s microfilm machines). AI has been a blessing, although Mr. Hayden himself was recently quoted as saying, “I’d like to use that, except you have to remember that it makes mistakes. It even makes things up sometimes, so you have to verify it with more than one source.” That is one important piece of advice that Mom, Mrs. DePerro, and all the library staffs & teachers I’ve encountered have stressed is more important than everything else. I’d like to think I am honoring all their legacies with this project. To them I dedicate my lifelong appreciation.
All throughout the process, a lot of it couldn’t be done without the support of my cousin, Rosemarie, who often wondered what all those old time pictures on her computer were about. She and her mom, my Aunt Lori (pictured with me at right in the mid-2010s), understood what I was trying to do and offered their love and support.
If there has been anyone I’ve forgotten, it’s probably because my mind is so full… I can always access this page and add you!
Thanks to everyone involved – as you can see there are plenty – for turning a missed cornfield opportunity from the 1980s into my little corner of the media world today.
– KEVIN HARRISON, web curator (2019, revised August 2026)
