http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/special/Archived Special Reports and Ongoing SeriesenWed, 02 Apr 2008 18:49:29 PDTMovable Type Enterprise 1.52 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/noArchived Special Reports and Ongoing Seriesflintspecialhttp://feedburner.google.comhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintspecial/~3/0A7QT7AD2cY/kayla_rolland_shooting_shocked_the_nation_but_also.htmlCommunity: Beecher87739791387721Flint Journal staffWed, 02 Apr 2008 18:49:29 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2008:/flintjournal/special//1097.744741 ]]>Kayla Rolland Flint Journal archives: • Feb. 29, 2000: Child shot at school • More articles on the 2000 shooting below BEECHER, Michigan -- The shooting death of first-grade Kayla Rolland by a fellow first grade at Buell Elementary in the Beecher School District shocked the nation when it took place on Feb. 29, 2000. People would ask, how could such a thing happen? Eight years later, the tragedy has faded amid a rash of school shootings that are now a constant part of the American consciousness....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/special/2008/02/kayla_rolland_shooting_shocked_the_nation_but_also.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintspecial/~3/1Urs-56eXO4/hamady_book_signing_draws_200plus.htmlCommunity: FlintGroceryman79138223182233820968223516918Kristyn Peterson | The Flint JournalWed, 02 Apr 2008 18:49:35 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2008:/flintjournal/special//1097.713542 ]]>Jeana-Dee Allen | The Flint JournalRobert Hamady signs copies of his book, "The Groceryman," during a stop at the Sloan Museum in Flint Sunday. Read the book | See the photos FLINT -- Jess Yow, 93, spent nearly 42 years working at the Hamady Brothers store on Flushing Road and still has the picture of himself and the other meat cutters lined up behind a counter stocked beef and sausage. Yow spent nearly 42 years working at the store before retiring in 1977. Yow is ills so his family got the photo, taken in 1939, signed for him Sunday by Hamady heir Robert Hamady, who was signing copies of his book, "Groceryman," Sunday at the Sloan Museum....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/special/2008/02/hamady_book_signing_draws_200plus.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintspecial/~3/2OGmW-0Rd3A/black_history_month_highlights_africanamerican_1st.htmlBlack History Month58760The Flint JournalWed, 02 Apr 2008 18:49:40 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2008:/flintjournal/special//1097.669345 ]]>The first Black History celebration started as a week-long event in 1926. As part of this year's celebration of Black History Month, The Flint Journal wrote about many Flint-area people who were the firsts, including: Lois E. Holt, first black teacher Nathel Burtley, first black superintendent Ollie B. Bivins Jr., first black judge Clinton B. Jones, first black UM chancellor Claudia L. Tarver, first black nursing administrator Jean Conyers, first director of the African-American Chamber of Commerce in Michigan Charlotte Williams, first female black Genesee County commissioner Hugh Semple, first black TV broadcaster...http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/special/2008/01/black_history_month_highlights_africanamerican_1st.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintspecial/~3/9QZP9mdJg4k/groceryman.htmlGroceryman205679135972759721597255972359720Matt Bach | The Flint JournalWed, 02 Apr 2008 18:49:44 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2007:/flintjournal/special//1097.541996 ]]>Photo courtesy | Hamady FamilyRobert M. Hamady, store manager, around 1927. See more photos from the "Groceryman" bookThe co-founder of Flint's premier supermarket chain, Michael Hamady, had a vision: He would be followed into the business by his son, then by his son's sons and their descendants. Generations of Hamadys would come and go, but Hamady Bros. would endure. It didn't turn out that way. Now, Robert Lee Hamady, grandson of the patriarch, tells his tale of the rise and fall of a giant. Over the next several weeks and months, The Flint Journal will be publishing excerpts of Robert's self-published book, "Groceryman."...http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/special/2007/12/groceryman.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintspecial/~3/j7qFA2UkJIM/hamady.htmlGroceryman79135972759721597255972359720Jeff Johnston | The Flint JournalWed, 02 Apr 2008 18:49:48 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2007:/flintjournal/special//1097.561411 ]]>WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Bob Hamady remembers childhood games of touch football and kick the can, Saturday matinees at the Della, Thanksgiving Day football games at Atwood Stadium.Bob Hamady But Hamady, 71, has other memories, too: of growing up in the family whose business once employed 1,300 and defined grocery shopping in the Flint area for much of the 20th century. Now, Hamady is sharing those memories. A memoir he wrote and published last year mainly for his grown children has gained a steady buzz as it's circulated among friends and family. In the Dec. 13 issue of the Flint Journal, the newspaper started serializing excerpts from the 168-page book. You can wait for the excerpts to come out or read the entire book now by clicking here....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/special/2007/12/hamady.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintspecial/~3/9qB_X1bfJhs/grocceryman_preface.htmlGroceryman5972159720Robert Lee Hamady | The Flint JournalWed, 02 Apr 2008 18:49:52 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2007:/flintjournal/special//1097.552527 ]]>The Groceryman By Robert Lee Hamady Copyright © 2006 by Robert Lee Hamady All rights reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pending Newspaper articles reprinted with permission of The Flint Journal ISBN 0-9785579-9-9 Printed in the United States of America For Lewie, Sarah, Leslie, Alex and Sophie PREFACE In Flint, Michigan, there was a family grocery business called Hamady Bros. Founded in 1911 by Michael Hamady with his cousin Kamol, Druze immigrants from Lebanon, the company grew to have $100 million in annual revenue, employing 1,300 employees....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/special/2007/12/grocceryman_preface.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintspecial/~3/QTPnjk9YYYY/grocceryman_chapter_one.htmlGroceryman791359721597255972359720Robert Lee Hamady | The Flint JournalWed, 02 Apr 2008 18:49:55 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2007:/flintjournal/special//1097.552672 ]]>In 1966 when I was 30 and still in college, my mother called. "Your father is ill," she said. "I'll tell you more when I see you. Come home." She hung up. I called back but she didn't pick up. Ann Arbor to Flint is a one hour drive north. The fields were yellow now and the corn was down. Another week and Dad might call to hunt pheasants on Valender 's farm. The family business bought Valender 's celery, so my father could hunt it and any number of farms between Flint and Saginaw or Port Huron. Strange that Mother hadn't inflated Dad's illness and blamed me for it as she'd done when he had his bleeding ulcers. Now she was mysterious. What did that portend? He was only 58. And in the one-man family business that had 1300 employees, he was the man. If Dad was sick, Hamady Bros. was sick....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/special/2007/12/grocceryman_chapter_one.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintspecial/~3/G8SqfesJMdI/groceryman_chapter_two.htmlGroceryman791359721597255972359720Robert Lee Hamady | The Flint JournalWed, 02 Apr 2008 18:49:58 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2007:/flintjournal/special//1097.552714 ]]>Twenty years later as I was graduating from law school, I took myself to see the resident psychiatrist at the University of Michigan health service, Dr. Kimbrough, a big man in his 30s with groomed premature white hair. Don't want to get into the family business, I told him. Went to law school to avoid it but now I'm graduating. "Why come to me?" he asked. "That's not a psychiatric problem." The business wasn't. But Dad was. I had a conflict. Dad's life, his happiness, depended on me. If I rejected the business I'd hurt him. That's what I believed. He was vulnerable....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/special/2007/12/groceryman_chapter_two.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintspecial/~3/NL8GKNitv1s/groceryman_chapter_three.htmlGroceryman791359721597255972359720Robert Lee Hamady | The Flint JournalWed, 02 Apr 2008 18:50:02 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2007:/flintjournal/special//1097.553739 ]]>Most people regard food as something to put into the body. Mother saw food as something to put through the body. So, rather than seeing it as destined for the stomach she pictured it on its way to the toilet. The difference appears semantical but the pain that resulted cannot be exaggerated. At issue was cleanliness. To her, excrement was something that food evolved into after a time period, whether or not it had been expelled....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/special/2007/12/groceryman_chapter_three.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintspecial/~3/m7DB8nZrWlQ/groceryman_chapter_four.htmlGroceryman791359721597255972359720Robert Lee Hamady | The Flint JournalWed, 02 Apr 2008 18:50:08 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2007:/flintjournal/special//1097.553745 ]]>Mid October, 1961: I was 25, and took a day off from studying for the Michigan Bar to pheasant hunt with Dad on Valender's farm. There was no hunting politesse with Dad, no "your bird" when one flushed my way. It was root, shoot or die. I told him I was going to visit Grandfather who had just returned to Flint from his cottage on Mackinac Island. "Now you're talking!" he said. "Just remember that law school was just to help you be a better grocery man." When I arrived at the Woodlawn house the nurse led me into the living room. Grandfather was sitting alone....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/special/2007/12/groceryman_chapter_four.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintspecial/~3/K_5rg8z0Vvo/gorceryman_chapter_five.htmlGroceryman79135972759721597255972359720Robert Lee Hamady | The Flint JournalWed, 02 Apr 2008 18:50:16 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2007:/flintjournal/special//1097.556901 ]]>The following Wednesday I drove to Flint for my half day of gainful employment. Downtown Flint was never pretty but it never put on airs, either. It knew what it was: an overgrown one-horse town, a coach stop on the Detroit to Saginaw road that, like Grandfather, out hustled the competition and made something of itself. Through the forties, going downtown with its department stores and theaters and crowds was an occasion. That was when Flint stopped at the city limits signs. Beyond were croplands and woods and derelict old barns left standing to advertise Redman Chewing Tobacco on their sides....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/special/2007/12/gorceryman_chapter_five.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintspecial/~3/YIg3yYRcXj4/groceryman_chapter_six.htmlGroceryman79135972759721597255972359720Robert Lee Hamady | The Flint JournalWed, 02 Apr 2008 18:50:23 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2007:/flintjournal/special//1097.557056 ]]>. . . A playboy. Not the ass man in Playboy Magazine. Somebody mollycoddled who didn't want to work, Grandfather would say. Somebody who'd marry for money and be supported, Dad would add. He'd be what that purple fop in Grandfather 's painting would grow up to be, I'd have said. But we'd all agree: there was no one more despicable. At age 25 I could have passed for one. Christiane was pretty and she was teaching me French. Sally and I lazed on the bed smoking while the stereo played Horace Silver and John Coltrane....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/special/2007/12/groceryman_chapter_six.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintspecial/~3/O15TxpXLXSU/groceryman_chapter_seven.htmlGroceryman79135972759721597255972359720Robert Lee Hamady | The Flint JournalWed, 02 Apr 2008 18:50:29 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2007:/flintjournal/special//1097.557055 ]]>In the summer of 1959 Mother 's sister in the old country was commissioned to select Druze girls for Ted and me to visit. Younger than Mother, and sweeter, Aunt Selma had the same expressive eyes and soft form. Ted arrived early with Mother and was waiting while I enjoyed a brief vacation in Europe with some law school friends....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/special/2007/12/groceryman_chapter_seven.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintspecial/~3/tYpTXvSBqRk/groceryman_chapter_eight.htmlGroceryman79135972759721597255972359720Robert Lee Hamady | The Flint JournalWed, 02 Apr 2008 18:50:33 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2007:/flintjournal/special//1097.557106 ]]>"Bobby, promise me ..." Dad began again in his monotone. He lay slightly elevated on the hospital bed with his face turned to me. His hand was limp in mine. "... you'll get in the business." "I promise, Dad." He smiled and his head turned away. The smile remained after his eyelids dropped, then faded with the deep breathing. "He's asleep," Mother said and rose to cover him. I presumed she regarded my promise to Dad for what it was: a simple courtesy to a dying man....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/special/2007/12/groceryman_chapter_eight.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintspecial/~3/50djygJd4II/groceryman_chapter_nine.htmlGroceryman79135972759721597255972359720Robert Lee Hamady | The Flint JournalWed, 02 Apr 2008 18:50:37 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2007:/flintjournal/special//1097.559245 ]]>Next morning saw me driving our VW bug up to Flint. "First thing, buy yourself a nice Buick," I heard Dad tell me. If only he were conscious to see me then, motoring up to work in the grocery business. He'd have himself a good laugh; unless ... unless he had really confided to Mother that I'd be the Judas of the business. If he had, I wouldn't pretend to be surprised. The business was his child. I didn't love it. And now it was orphaned, and unprotected....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/special/2007/12/groceryman_chapter_nine.htmlnonadult