If Mary Clark has heard it once, she's heard it a thousand
times.
"I want to be just like your mom when I grow up."
Clark's mother, Eastern Michigan University alumna and
former Roosevelt School teacher Florence "Pat" Crouch,
turns 100 Feb. 6. Optimistic and easygoing, Crouch is a
role model for younger generations which, at her age, is
just about everyone.
 |
THROUGH THE GENERATIONS: Pat Crouch
looks lovingly at a picture of some of her family,
which includes grandchildren, great-grandchildren
and one great-great grandchild. Crouch turns
100
Feb. 6. Photo by Amy
E. Whitesall |
"I don't think she acts 100," said Clark, who's organized
a Feb. 7 open house in Crouch's honor at Independence Village
in Brighton. The open house is from 2-4 p.m. "Or, at least
I know people who are a lot younger than her who act a
lot older."
Crouch said her 100th birthday is just another day as
far as she's concerned. Her own mother lived to be 104.
Aside from an active nature and a lifelong interest in
fitness, she insists she hasn't done anything special to
get there.
"Lots of people live to 100 nowadays," she said.
But to appreciate the swath of history Crouch's life spans,
consider this:
She was four years old when Henry Ford invented the assembly
line and 11 when women were granted the right to vote in
the United States. She retired three years before Neil
Armstrong first walked on the moon.
Born the year the NAACP was founded, her 100th birthday
follows the inauguration of America's first African-American
president.
"I've lived through about 20 presidents and I just marvel
at the way things have progressed," she said.
Crouch grew up in Ypsilanti, in a house on Lowell Street
that's since been overtaken by an EMU parking lot. A grade
school friend dubbed her "Pat" and it stuck, probably in
no small part because she prefers it to "Florence."
Crouch graduated from Ypsilanti High School in 1926, one
year before Babe Ruth hit a then-record 60 home runs in
a single season. Crouch enrolled at Michigan State Normal
College and set a course to become a physical education
teacher. During her freshman year, she met fellow student,
Bill Crouch, and they married in 1930.
"We both always considered Eastern "our school," even
though we both did our graduate work at (the University
of) Michigan," Pat Crouch said.
Pat Crouch graduated from EMU in 1929, after only three
years, earning her degree in physical education.
 |
TIGER SENTIMENTS: Pat Crouch, who
turns
100 Feb. 6, holds up a certificate,
signed by Detroit
Tiger great Willie Horton,
that commemorates the
occasion. Photo by
Amy E. Whitesall |
After college, Bill Crouch played professional baseball
for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies and St.
Louis Cardinals. Pat taught school in Detroit and Dearborn,
eventually landing at Roosevelt, back on the MSNC campus.
She taught in the winters and traveled in the summers,
following Bill's teams around the country. When he retired
from baseball as a player, the Detroit Tigers hired him
as a batting practice pitcher. In 1947, he became head
baseball and basketball coach at his alma mater.
Eugene Elliott was president of what was then Michigan
State Normal College, and Elliott, Crouch said, didn't
think much of athletics. Elliott wouldn't let athletes
stay on campus to train during breaks so, each night during
break, Bill Crouch would invite his entire basketball team
to eat dinner at the Crouch's house on Oakwood Avenue.
"Mary and I would feed 'em," Pat Crouch said. "Those guys
could really eat. They'd let them work out at the gym,
but the university wouldn't house them. Sports were not
very important to Eastern at that time."
Crouch credits former EMU president Harold Sponberg with
raising the profile of athletics at EMU. It was a welcome
change, but she also recognizes that something's since
gone haywire with the importance society puts on sports.
"When you start thinking about the amount of money ordinary
baseball players get now; it's in the millions. I think
that's gone a little too far. I don't think anybody's worth
$1 million to play a game of baseball."
Pat Crouch taught at Roosevelt until 1966. As a "critic
teacher," she not only taught and counseled Roosevelt's
K-12 students, but also worked with the college seniors
who cycled through the teaching laboratory school on their
way to full-time jobs in outside school districts. It was
a special place and a special time, she said, filled with
wonderful students and involved parents. She's stayed in
touch with several. Last year, she went to the 50-year
reunion of the class of 1958.
"Now that I'm going to be 100, I'm getting more cards
from my former students. I had some wonderful times there
at Roosevelt, great students. I've heard from kids I didn't
ever realize I had that much influence on. It's rewarding
to know you did make some bit of impact on some of these
students."
Those "kids", of course, are now in their 60s and 70s
and while Crouch looks back fondly, she doesn't live in
the past. She's not interested in learning how to use a
lot of gadgets, so don't text her. But she checks her e-mail
about once a week and marvels at the way technology connects
people and spreads information in these troubling and promising
times.
"I grew up during the Depression, and those were really
hard times," she said. "But, it didn't seem to me to be
quite as frustrating as it is right now with the country
in the condition it is.
...I think (President Barack Obama) is a very bright,
very knowledgeable man, and I think he's surrounded himself
with good people. ...I'm looking forward to a comeback
of some kind. We've got to have a comeback. I don't know
when it will come, but I hope to live to see it."
 |
BIRTHDAY WISHES: A smattering of birthday
cards
and a "Happy Birthday" note from the Detroit
Tigers' adorn a tabletop in Pat Crouch's apartment.
Photo by Amy E. Whitesall |
The richness in Crouch's life comes from the people in
it, just as it has for most of a century. Her entire family
— her daughter, son-in-law, grandchildren, great-grandchildren
and a great-great granddaughter — live within
100 miles of her. They get together often and, with a love
of active life and sports that stretch down through the
generations, they always have something to talk about.
Crouch is an avid Detroit Tigers fan. The club sent her
a certificate in honor of her 100th birthday. ("signed
by Willie Horton," she notes with pride). Crouch looks
forward to spring training and Tiger games on TV.
Photos of family fill her homey, sunlit apartment, and
her days are filled with some of the same kind of small-town
community she enjoyed in Ypsilanti, at EMU and later in
Howell, where she and Bill had a 140-acre farm.
She eats meals with the same group of friends every day,
tackles the New York Times' crossword puzzle every week,
plays a mean game of poker and recently got in on an "investment
club" with nine of her neighbors.
"We play the Mega Millions," she explains with a smile. "We
put in our dollar every week, and last week we won. Everyone
got $2."
The staff at Independence Village takes care of everything,
she said. There's always entertainment or activities scheduled.
They do all her laundry and all the cooking — except for
the cookies she bakes in her own kitchen. There are plenty
of choices, and she says the food is good.
"I like it," she said. "Some people complain about it
sometimes but, you know, life is too short to complain
about things."
Flowers and cards can be sent to Pat Crouch at 7700 Nemco
Way, Brighton, MI 48116. She also can be reached by e-mail
at nanac09@yahoo.com
