Rose Marie Tibbits:
CLASS OF 1979
Clarkston High SchoolClass of 1979
Clarkston, MI
Kinde High SchoolClass of 1980
Kinde, MI
Almont Elementary SchoolClass of 1979
Almont, MI
North Sashabaw Elementary SchoolClass of 1979
Clarkston, MI
Sashabaw Middle SchoolClass of 1979
Clarkston, MI
Rose Marie's Story
Life
Hi! Boy I can't wait to hear from you! I live about an hour and a half north of the school in the thumb. I'm anxoius to hear from you all. Love, Rose Marie
School
I hated school from square one. I was always made fun of. Never felt like I fit in and I tryed so hard probably too hard. My favortie teacher was unarguably Mrs. Reed. She's the one who discovered how to unlock my potential for learning, again I tryed to hard. After her intervension I became a soild B student and stayed that way through what college I did take. I have a degree in Nursing and worked at St. Joes for years. I would have like to have finished my dream of becoming a chiropractor, but became a MOM instead.
I guess one would say I am a country girl at heart,I grew up on a farm till I was about 10 ½ then my family moved to the suburbs down state.I lived in Clarkston,not far from Pine Knob Music theater, just out side of Pontiac for 10 years till I met and married my first husband. We had two children. At which time I moved to Oxford only a few miles away .I worked at Pontiac St. Joes on the nursing staff. I lived in Oxford till 1995. After divorcing my first husband I moved back up to Cass City following a year behind my folks. My Dad was ill and I was asked to come home to help care for him.
My Dad was a big part of making me who I am. My Dad always did heavy manual labor. When I was small he worked dry-wall with my uncles. Then he worked in the butter room at Michigan Milk Producers pulling 300 lbs.churns of butter. Then he finally established his long time career, He started on the end of a shovel keeping dirt away from the ends of the conveyers, worked into truck driver, and finally he drove heavy equipment. My Dad drove a big front end loader,Cat 988-B,he worked in the 15th largest open pit mine in the world. His job was physically hard on him, basically beat him to death on a daily basis. He breathed a lot of diesel smoke and rock dust on top of a 3-5 pack a day cigarette habit.
My Dad was a big man,6 foot 4 inches, around 300 lbs. But just a gentle as could be. He had a lot of hardships growing up and was determined to have better for his children. My real grandfather was killed when my father was 7. He was hit by a drunk driver while walking home from his job at General Motors in Flint. After his death my father was passed from Uncle to Uncle, Grandparent to Grandparent. Till he finally got sick of it all . At 16 he quit high school in the 10th grade and went to work for my Great Grandpa in the saw mill. Gramps gave him his first job plus room an board.
Everywhere in my Dads side of the family you will find music. Gramps played nearly anything he could pick up, fiddle, and piano mostly. He corded on the piano for the square dances at the town hall on Sat.night for as far back as my Dad could remember. And fiddled on occasion too. My cousins sing in a gospel quarter, Uncle Jim is one of the best bass singers you could imagine, and Uncle Charles sings tenor.Daddy took after Gramps, he could play most anything he picked up. Played guitar and piano and sang too. Up until he had a severe case of pneumonia he could yodel too. So all my life I have been surrounded with music. At an early age my Dad exposed me to many different types of sounds. Even when he worked long hours he always managed to pick up his guitar and play for at least a few minutes everyday.
My love for music was discovered when I was still in diapers really.My Dad fostered that and it grew. By the time I was 7 my Dad was able to teach me to sing harmony. It came very naturally to me. By the time I was in 2nd grade the school noticed that I had potential talent and then my formal training began.
My mother loves to sing, especially old love songs. So between her and Dad I know a plethora of songs that are way before my time. Most of them I have learned to make my parents smile at one time or another. There are a couple I still cannot sing since my Dad passed away. You will hear volumes on my Dad. He is so much a part of making me who I am.
I should also through in here that my parents were married for 47 years at the time of his death and had never had their first fight. Anytime there was a decision to be made they discussed it. Made lists of pros and cons then my Dad would make the final decision. We never had any money so to speak, my Dads work was seasonal, my Mom did not work out of the home till I was 17. So both my brother and I learned how to make things stretch, and accept the fact that we had more love than the other kids but the material things we not meant to be.
Mom worked all summer so we would have canned goods from our own garden to eat during the winter months. Everyone leaned how to put food up for winter. Mama baked every weekend to give us the best. Homemade breads, cookies, cake, pies, you name it. During the winter months Dad was laid off so he spent long hours with us kids. He was always coming up with things for us to do. Some of them quite goofy to the rest of the world, but special to us. Like going to the park in the dead of winter because nobody would be there and we could go into the glazed brick bathrooms and sing, just to enjoy the acoustics. He always knew the best hills for sledding and tobogganing too. Daddy was never one to go out in public, other than roller skating. We did that as a family too.
We only had one vacation in my life though, we went to the UP of Michigan and seen a lot in four days. But being I was 5 at the time I do not remember much of it.
I have always been a larger than average person. Even as a child. I was always a head taller and much heavier then the others. I was teased all my life for my size. Such hurtful things were said, it cut deep into my heart. Being I did not fit in I developed an addiction to food at an early age too. At one point in my life I was all the way up to 357 lbs. I just did not have the incentive to be otherwise. I had no one tell me I was attractive in any way at anytime.
I married my first husband when I was 20 and gave birth to our first child Aleasha the following spring. She was a dream baby, so good. My husband then was in the Navy and so I lived still with my fol...Expand for more
ks. When Aleasha was 16 mo. old we got on a bus in Pontiac and rode all the way to the southern tip of Maryland where we would live for the next two years. I gave birth to our second child David Russell there. Russ was sickly when he was very small, we almost lost him. Before he turned a year old I moved home to keep my children. My first husband was court marshaled out for Child abuse, he beat Aleasha with a belt. leaving bruises all over her. Still I stood by him. When he finally came home he could not/would not get a job so finally I ended up going to work to take care of my kids. After almost 10 years of supporting him plus doing all the housework ,cooking, and childcare I divorced him. Granted he would do the odd job here and there to get moneys. Most of which he spent immediately on CB equipment. His hobby. He would stay on the radio till the wee hours of the morning talking to anyone and everyone. Soon there were a group of people hanging out at my house. There developed a regular crowd of 13 who were in and out of my house on a regular basis. These 13 became known as my guys. Let me tell you about them. What started it all was the guys were used to how I acted when my husband was around. Then they noticed I acted differently when he was not. Then they started to piece together Why? I think the first one to come along was Mooch. He was 18 and worked as the projectionist at the local theater a couple blocks up the road. If the roads were bad he would crash out on the sofa instead of risking the roads. He an I started talking on a pretty regular basis and soon he knew how I felt about things in general. One night during one of these talks I mentioned how unattractive I thought I was and I will never forget, he cupped my face in his hands and told me. You are a beautiful, sensual,sexy woman. Do not ever let anyone tell you different. Now coming from an attractive 18 year old kid I took it as the highest of complements. He learned how I loved my music and brought the love of dancing back into my life too. He would grab me and we would dance just about anywhere, anytime. It was lots of fun. I miss his spontaneity. Todd, who eventually rented the basement from me. Was my protector. He always was on the defensive for me. He asked repeatedly, Can I hit him? ,or why do you not beat the crap out of him!Because he knew having lived in the same house how abused I was. R.J. could have been a model. Beautiful dark hair, blue eyes, and a smile that would melt any ones heart. Strong, well built. Kind of guy who walks on the dance floor and women come to him by the bunch. RJ had a gift for asking you questions after you would asked him one that would make you answer your own question. He was my cuddler. The one who could tolerate my tearfulness as I came to realize all that everyone was telling me was true.I knew I could do better. So it took 13 people three years to convince me that I needed a divorce from him. Plus catching him in bed with another woman was unforgivable. But also during that three year period I lost over 100 lbs. Solely based on the fact that I had someone, well 13 someones, who noticed the small details about me.Is that a new blouse?,Nice jeans, cute butt. Their comments kept me going just for the desire to hear more, and they all took me out and showed me off too. I no longer had to find my comfort in food. I was getting the attention I wanted and deserved. My second husband also supported me in the same ways. Always keeping me focused with flattery. Silly as that sounded. All total I dropped 147 lbs. In 5 years. Dancing and singing my butt off literally.
My second husband was I thought great, romantic, happy, cooked, cleaned, a good lover. Good provider even. That all shattered Dec.1,98. At three a.m. the phone rang, it was the police wanting to talk to the children. After they had taken my kids aside one at time they came out an told me. He is currently in prison till 2023.That day when they came out and told me that was like someone pulled the rug out from under me. I put on 80 lbs. In just a couple months stress eating. I have never been able to find that support to keep me going since. But I am still looking, hoping, wishing. I would like to be back at least to where I was, if not a bit more.
Third husband is a serious work-a-holic. Never has time for me or for anything. Even went so far as to tell my son that,you treat a woman one way till you marry her then you do not have to treat her that way anymore. Yes I was pissed.. Lost my truck, lost my Company, almost lost my house. But his child support was paid, he has four children from previous relationships. His non communication is the hardest thing to deal with. I will ask,how was supper?,he will say, Eatable. Is that even a word? I ask, do you like that? He says, its ok. I ask, how does this outfit look?,He answers,your dressed, come on lets go. And the very worse in my book, I ask, Do you Love me? He says, yep. I ask him why? He answers,cause I said so. Cause is not a reason!
Granted there are a million different facets to this short introduction of my life so far. But this is close to where I am. I have worked hard physically all my life, ignored my hopes and dreams, wants, needs and wishes for others. I have endured a lot of abuse, mostly mental and emotional, from those who claimed they love me.I want to be able to not shoulder all the responsibilities of life by my self. All I ever dreamed of was to be a good wife and mother. I can not re live the mother part, my children are grown. But I want to be a housewife. To be able to cook and clean and make a beautiful home. I would love to go places and do things too. Like getting in the car on Sunday afternoon and going for a ride would be wonderful. I am not an extravagant person. My affections cannot be bought with possessions. Little things mean more to me.
It has taken me a long time to realize my own value. I do not need a man to validate me. I can manage on my own. It has also taken a long time for me to believe I am beautiful just the way I am. I have been told enough times now to have to believe I got a cute butt and great legs.
I am a survivor and I will make it somehow.
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