Kalamazoo

Cyclists gather at Kalamazoo Valley Community College before the opening event of the 1978 National Convention of the League of American Wheelmen ( LoA Bicyclists , now), hosted by the Kalamazoo Bicycle Club. We called the convention Escape '78, and this ride was The Great Escape-In . That's me holding the bike (wearing a KBC jersey), and my brother Richard is in the foreground (wearing the convention "jersey.") Photo by Roger Dinda

Kalamazoo Fire Department Engine 4, set up to suck water from a pond. One of the other photographs in this series will show another engine actually pumping from that pond. Given the weather, it couldn't have been a fun day--but it does look neat. No idea where this was taken, but it's clearly not the fairgrounds; the fairgrounds are in the floodplain and extremely flat. Those big houses in the background are kind of interesting. That thing in the foreground is part of another fire engine; photographer Martin Sernstinger would use that truck's tall ladder to get a different angle in that other photo i mentioned. 1955 or thereabouts. ========== This photo was Explored! #375 on September 11, 2013 ------------- Rudolph J. Sterk STERK, Rudolph J. Sterk Age 82 Mission, TX Died January 4, 2006 at Mission Regional Medical Center. He was born March 6, 1923 to the late Carl and Anna (Seitz) Sterk. He is survived by his son, Paul (Leann) Sterk of Rapid City, South Dakota; daughter, Jane Gordon of Ann Arbor, Michigan; sister, Helen Larson of Murdock, Minneapolis; grandchildren, David and Daniel Sterk, Stuart Gordon, Cara Gordon, and James Cameron; and long time companion, Mary E. Walker of Mission. He was preceded in death by his wife Alice, parents, 3 brothers and a sister. He was a fireman in Kalamazoo, Michigan for 30 years and a devoted father and grandfather. Memorial donations may be made to a favorite charity. No services will be held. Services are under the direction of Ric Brown Family Funeral Home, Mission, TX. Emphasis added; copied from MLive.com. Preacher Debra sent me the link a couple days ago. Blessings, old friend. Rudy was a good guy. My prayers are with you, Paul; if you see this, drop me a line. ==================== Edit 3/24/07: Brian Stone's (another firefighter kid) just posted a picture of Rudy .

My father, Roger Dinda, newly promoted to Driver, and Kalamazoo Fire Department's truck 16, in 1955 or thereabouts. This was taken in front of Old Station 1, the Central Station at the time. 'Twas called "Ones" or "Central," as we discussed in the comments to one of my brothers' pix. The station's been gone since the sixties. Another Martin Sernstinger photo. I have a bunch of these, and have created a special set for 'em.

New Station Two of the Kalamazoo Fire Department, at the corner of Bryant Avenue and James Street in the Washington Square neighborhood. This station was brand-new when Martin Serstinger captured it on film in the mid-fifties. This was Dad's station--he was the Lieutenant in charge of one of the shifts--and it was about half way between our Palmer Avenue home and Washington School, so we'd regularly stop and visit on the way home.

Mount Ever Rest Cemetery, Kalamazoo, Michigan

Mount Ever Rest Cemetery, Kalamazoo, Michigan

Kalamazoo's Milham Park is really a rather small place--less than 50 acres of park on the winding Portage Creek. But I first encountered it when I was small, and in my memory it's simply enormous.

Kindleberger Park, Parchment, Michigan. Parchment was a company town, built around the Kalamazoo Vegetable Parchment paper mill. Back in the day, KVP fielded strong baseball nines in the local industrial league, and hosted games at this ballpark. Back then this was a fully developed stadium capable of holding several thousand spectators. Remnants of those glory days remain, if you look for them. By the 60s, KVP had been absorbed by Sutherland Paper Company, who still fielded the area's strongest ball team. But only a handful of teams were still around, so the entire Kalamazoo City League schedule was played at Riverview (later Sutherland, now Stryker) Field, in Kalamazoo, and this park changed its focus. Glad to see it's still in use, if somewhat diminished. ------------------------ My boss claims yesterday's Third Base photo was too abstract. So here's an entire ballpark. And here's another view of the Kindleberger ball field, from another age...

Same photo, processed differently.... Peter Mulvey @ Cooper's Glen Music Festival, in the ballroom at Kalamazoo's Radisson Hotel.

At the Cooper's Glen festival in Kalamazoo.

Kalamazoo.

Parking ramp and North Tower.

Two crops of the same photo. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . 366 Snaps project discussion and stats for September 4 .

Near where I parked on the outskirts of the K-College campus, I found this bicycle anchored to a tree. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . 366 Snaps project discussion and stats for September 4 .

Deep snow at 1318 Palmer Avenue in Kalamazoo. Compare this view with the 1972 photo I took of the same sunporch for a sense of scale; there's a lot more snow in this pic. The icicles were a constant decoration, or bother. Dad's slide dates from the 1950s. We moved to the Palmer house in 1957, and I suspect this was taken during our first winter. Since we stayed there for fifteen years, the two pictures demonstrate the change in appearance of the house during our tenure. Things badly needed paint at this point; I'd guess this is a winter '57-'58 picture just from the state of the window frames. The house was never in poor shape, but we devoted a lot of effort to keeping things up. Looks like our predecessors weren't so determined to do that. Camera: Argus C3

More old snow. The back of our house on Palmer Avenue in Kalamazoo, late in 1971 or early 1972. Camera: Minolta SR-T 101.

Three views of our back yard, on Palmer Avenue, in Kalamazoo. Virginia Brown built that redwood fence to keep our baseballs out of her yard. The tree's a butternut. Notice the picnic table in the background. January 1972 or thereabouts; shot with my Minolta SR-T 101.