Beverly Kalageorgi:  

Beverly (Qualls) Kalageorgi: A synopsis of the past 50+ years: After attending Grade, Junior and High school at what is now Belleville High School until 1960, I moved to Indiana for a year and a half and graduated from Wendell L. Wilkie H.S. in Elwood 1961. Our family moved back to Michigan (Livonia) shortly thereafter. My brother, Ken (class of '63) graduated in Livonia. My sister, Dawn, who is 7 year younger than I, finished school there, as well. Initially, I became a Beautician and opened Beverly Joyce Salon in Livonia (Ann Arbor Trail & Wayne Rd.) The shop was in operation for 17 years. I married and became the mother of Leanne in 1965 and Steven in 1970. In my second life, I divorced, moved to Shelby Twp. and became a Registered Nurse. I then worked in a variety of areas in Nursing, including Oncology, Home Care Management, Cardiac, etc. I also worked for a couple of years for 4 pools and was able to build experience by working in a number of hospitals in the Detroit area. I value that time and opportunity. During this time I also became a photographer. I particularly enjoyed working as House Photographer at a famous night club, The Premier Center, in the Detroit area, where I met and photographed several famous entertainers including Frank Sinatra, Wayne Newton, Paul Anka, Bob Hope and many others. I have a wonderful collection of my prints signed personally by many of the artists! I also have a presentation of my photographs taken in Russia. These works have been on display in both Russia and the USA. In my third existence, I met my husband of nearly 23 years, Leo, while caring for his mother who was dying of cancer. It is a long and touching story which led me to believe that there is a purpose in everything and that there are no accidents or coincidences. We share the same birthday, likes, hobbies and dislikes. We have a fantastic life together. We love to travel and have been all over the world. Leo has two boys from a previous marriage and our 'joint venture' is our 20-year-old daughter, Kyra! Leo is Russian by heritage, a direct descendant of Catherine the Great, was born in China, left there during the Japanese invasion when he was 18, immigrated to Hong Kong and then Brazil and was then found by GM and sent to GMI. He graduated from GMI and was employed by G.M. Overseas for 50 years until he retired a few years ago. He has lived all over the world for G.M. and I had the wonderful opportunity to share in one of these adventures when we accepted an assignment to Russia in 1991. We arrived in Togliatti, Russia (a city of about 800,000 people - 1000 kilometers E. and So. of Moscow) just 2 weeks prior to the initial coup attempt. We were the only Americans there. What was intended to be a 3-year assignment evolved into a fascinating 8-year experience. During that time I learned the Russian language (Leo speaks 4 languages and I now speak 2), started TRACC (Togliatti Russian-American Cultural Center and English Library), Camp Russia-America (a summer language/cross-cultural camp for 100 kids which was held for 6 years, a pen-pal organization of over 1000 students and teachers, an Estee Lauder store and was involved in many of the initial movements toward assisting Russia in her transition to a free economy. I also taught a class which I created called Conversational American English - (English as a reflection of the American culture). I taught the class for 4 years at a prestigious university in Togliatti to language students who had already mastered a base of the English language through British books, tapes and classes, hoped to do international business some day, but hadn't a clue about the vast differences between British English and culture and American English and culture. I remain involved in cross-cultural education and with efforts in Russia, and occasionally speak...Expand for more