Features/History

Special Interest Articles Submitted by our Alumni

April, 2025

BHS Alumnus Bob Musch (class of 1970) shared his family history with us. Many familiar names and places mentioned bring smiles to our faces!

The Max Musch family was born and raised in the Livingston County area. Max's family grew up on a farm just west of Chilson, off of King road in Genoa Township.   Dorothy Musch (Smith) was born and raised in Howell where she lived on the Smith's family farm on Pingree Road.  They were both very active in the community throughout their lives.  Together they had three sons, all of whom went to Brighton High School, William (graduated 1959), Richard (1966) and Robert (1970).

Max A. Musch married Dorothy Schultz June, 1937 in Howell, Michigan. Following her death in 1941 he married Dorothy E. Smith Dec 1945 in Howell, Michigan.

 Max Musch

Max Musch:   Graduated from Brighton County school, after graduation he attended Capital University in Ohio (Lutheran affiliation) and subsequently transferred  to the University of Michigan where he earned a degree in Architectural and Civil Engineering.  At that time, U of M automatically accepted graduates from Brighton and Howell High Schools.  Max began his career as an architect for a firm in in St. Claire Shores, MI. A few years later he returned to the Brighton/Howell area and started his own architectural design business. Not long after, he accepted a position with General Motors (Milford Proving Grounds) where he worked for over thirty years.  There, Max was the Manager/Supervisor of the drafting department where he oversaw the expansion of many buildings and the development of their torturous road system.  Max truly enjoyed his time at GM where he thought of his coworkers as family. He often spoke of the many happy memories he had from that time in his life including the friends he made, the successful projects he led and the tremendous Christmas parties and open houses GM held for employees and families alike. Max also worked after hours designing homes, remodels and commercial buildings. In all, Max completed over 700 projects in the Brighton area. Some of his work includes buildings you may be familiar with include; Keehn Funeral Home, St. George and Shepherd of the Lakes Lutheran Churches.  The very first home he designed is now known as the Vina House, located next to the Methodist Church on Grand River. The home was designed for the local doctor who served the Brighton Hospital ( Brighton Chamber of Commerce building today). Max made a beautiful chalk drawing of the home to commemorate his first work. The drawing is currently on display in the Vina House's lobby.  Max was also very active in Genoa township serving on the  zoning and planning boards, as well as, at St George Lutheran church.  He was the Grand Marshal of the 4th of July parade in the late 70's.  Max passed in 1988.

 Dorothy E. Musch

Max's wife, Dorothy E. Musch, was raised on a farm in Howell and graduated from Howell High School. Through her high school years, Dorothy and her sisters were taken by horse and buggy or sleigh into Howell the first of each week. They stayed at a boarding house, so that they could attend high school. They returned to the farm each weekend.  Following high school, Dorothy attended Livingston County Normal (1930-31). She then began her career as a school teacher and earned $20/month. She walked up to four miles daily to and from work at Gage School in Walls County and the Village Farms School  off  County Farm in Howell.  In 1935 she accepted a position at DTE for $18/week. She worked there for ten years until she married Max in 1945. She was then required to leave work due to DTE's company policy which forbid the employment of married women. This policy didn't change until after the 1960's ruling related to Equal Opportunity Employment.  Max and Dorothy raised three boys, William, Richard and Robert. Concurrently, Dorothy volunteered as Clerk for Genoa Township (eight years), and successfully achieved two masters degrees (Specialty and Counseling) at Eastern Michigan University. Dorothy taught 5th grade for (fifteen years), at West/Lindbom Elementary School then worked as a guidance counselor at Scranton Middle School. During that time she also helped negotiate the first Master Agreement between the Brighton Education Association (BEA) and the School Board, and developed a Title 1 Summer Instruction Program for middle school students.  Dorothy retired in 1978.

Following retirement, Dorothy remained active as a member of the Genoa Township Zoning Board and as a volunteer at the local hospital. Dorothy enjoyed playing bridge and most any card game along with golf, knitting, and discussing politics. She was honored by being nominated as one of the outstanding women in the community in early 2013.  Dorothy had a long and healthy life passing in 2015 at 102.

Dorothy should not be confused with Evelyn Musch who also taught in Brighton at Hawkins school 4th grade and lived off Musch road near Winans Lake road.  Also teaching in the Brighton School system was Irene Musch who taught at both the Beurmann County School off Brighton Road and eventually at West/Lindbom Elementary .

 As mentioned, Max and Dorothy had three sons, William, Richard and Robert. They all started their careers working at Burroughs farms (Oak Pointe) while attending college and prior to moving on to the service and their lifetime careers. The days at Burroughs farms resulted in memories that are still talked about by many even today.

William (Bill), BHS Class of 1959

 Bill started school while living on the Musch family farm past Chilson. He and his cousin Jerry Musch walked (over 2 miles) to the Beurmann one room school house (located past Oak Pointe by Clifford Road).  Note this was for grades one through four when they were only five to ten years old. Their teacher was their Aunt Irene Musch.  Some of Bill's memories from that time in his life include being asked to light the stove to warm the room, and having to learn to get along with about thirty students ranging from five to eighteen years of age (K-12) in the one room school house.  In the early 1950's the school systems consolidated, and Bill finished his elementary and secondary school education at Brighton Consolidated Schools for 5th grade and then on to Brighton High School for grades six through twelve.  Bill's graduating class had 72 students, whereas the entire school district at that time had ~400 students.

One of the more memorable events for Bill while at the county school was the fire drills (all but one liked the fire drills). Since the school didn’t have a phone, the oldest, George Prieskorn, had to ride his bike one-quarter mile to the nearest house (Denkhaus) and then ride back to the school. The rest of the kids were on the playground and could see his progress, encouraging him to take his time!

Following high school Bill went on to study for two and a half years at the University of Michigan, he then joined the Army from 1964-66.  In his last 5 months of service he was stationed at the New York City Induction Center where over 780 potential candidates were evaluated for service each day. Bill remembers the days after basic training while stationed at Fort Irwin CA when his commanders were looking for anyone that could type to work in the office.  Bill volunteered which allowed him the ability to see transfer orders.  He volunteered for the NY assignment to stay in the states,  but in retrospect it wasn't the best of times.  He had to go to and from work in civilian cloths due to all the hate speech and protests against those in or associated with the military due to the Vietnam War. After serving he moved back to California where he continued his education at the Northrop Institute of Technology, and graduated as an Aero-Space Engineer. Bill worked on the DC 9 and DC 10 aircrafts while at Douglas Aircraft (McDonald Douglas) for over 30 years.  Aerospace was always his passion, back in high school it wasn't uncommon to see him light off several home made rockets in the back yard.

Bill has been married for 55 years to Polly Ann Sanborn. Their son Adam was born in  1971, he married Angelina Jung in 2011, has a son Max, 14 (named after his grandfather), and live in Lafayette, California. Their daughter Katherine was born in 1975, and lives two miles from their home in Tustin, CA. Bill and Polly currently reside in Santa Ana, CA, where they have lived for the past 50 years. They have enjoyed spending the past thirteen summers at their cottage in Windham, NH on Cobbett’s Pond.

Richard (Rich), BHS Class of 1966

 Rich enjoyed his summers growing up on the lake and has many good memories of his school years starting from elementary through high school.  Special teachers along the way included Mrs. Langley in Kindergarten, Mr. K, and Pat Lueker, he also fondly remembers principals Mr. Lindbom and Mr. Scranton.  It seems like he had an affinity for the disciplinary type.  Rich, like many of us appreciated all that Bob Scranton did for the community by getting involved and encouraging kids to be active in a sport at the gym or on the baseball fields, versus driving the loop on Main Street from the A&W to the railroad tracks, (though he did that as well). Also how could anyone forget their time in drivers training, Rich had nervous Mr. Ed Smith!  Rich was in one of the last classes in the old high school (on the hill) where it was crowded with three to a locker, he was also one of the luckiest with four to his locker due to friends of friends. His senior trip was also memorable going to both New York City and Washington DC. Back then the legal drinking age in NY was eighteen, needless to say, they kept the chaperones very busy. Rich graduated with a class of 134 students.

Rich went on to Western Michigan University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Aviation Engineering and his pilots license.  While in college, the local draft board monitored his status each semester due to the Vietnam War. Rich ended up receiving his college degree and his draft notice the same day.  He enlisted in the United States Air Force and went on to Officers Training School (OTS).  After OTS, basic pilot training and special training on the C-141 (large transport aircraft) and survivor school, he was based at Norton AFB, CA.  Most of his missions took place in the Pacific flying out of Hickam AFB, HI, the remainder he flew worldwide.  Rich had always been a bit afraid of heights, his worst nightmare turned into reality when he had to learn how to parachute. Rich served seven years including his OTS, in 1978, then joined the reserves until 1981.  He, like most of his roommates all went on to become pilots for various airlines. Rich hired on with National Airlines and moved to Miami.   After several mergers and a bankruptcy (Pan Am) Rich ended up at the LOVE Airline Southwest as a Captain.  Rich was thankful to have worked until his retirement at 65. A government action that took effect in 2007 extended pilots mandatory retirement age from 60 to 65.

 Rich met his wife(Josie) of 40+ years while at the airline where she worked as a flight attendant. After leaving the airline, she went on to teach English, and to tutor students.  Rich and Josie reside in the Ft. Lauderdale, FL area where they had a daughter (Paige.)  She and her husband (Jimmy) have two wonderful children, Logan and Camryn.  Rich trys to get out and play tennis most every day when he isn't babysitting or working around the house.  Other than tennis he stays in touch with his flight buddies and has taken numerous cruises out of the Fort Lauderdale port.

Robert (Bob), BHS Class of 1970

 Bob the youngest of the three grew up on Round lake and enjoyed outdoor activities such as swimming and baseball.  He  remembers riding his bike over five miles to and from baseball practice or games on the old fashion one speed. Simm's Hill off Brighton road was always a killer.  The teams were named after various colors and Bob was on the Green's.  By  fourth grade Mr. Scranton took it upon himself to offer basketball to anyone that was interested.  He would pick up the kids using  Old Bus #4 and drive them to Hawkins elementary to teach them the game.  In that same year Mr. K  (band instructor) also would come to the school and teach the kids how to play instruments.  Both became a dominate part of Bob's life through elementary and secondary school.  To this day Bob can still remember the Band Fight Song they learned at Camp Mong-go-tasee in Hale, MI starting out with "Ipza zuZa chick arum bah zu..." Bob graduated from Brighton in 1970 as one of the first classes to finish four full years at the then new Brighton High School.  One of his more significant memories from his school years began when their 7th grade basketball team won their first game at Fowlerville with a score of 62-10, and then went on to finish the season undefeated. At that point Bob believed the coaches felt they might have something special, and their team went on in high school to win the Districts for three straight years 1968, 1969 and 1970.   They also qualified for the States in golf in their senior year taking third in the Regionals.  Bob's graduating class was approximately 150 students.

 Bob went on to Michigan State University for his undergraduate degree.  Upon graduation in the early 70's, he was advised by several companies he interviewed with to go back to college for his Masters, as the recession was keeping them from hiring.  Bob took the advice and  earned an MBA and then went on to become a CPA for Deloitte Touche working out of the Midland/Saginaw office. In the early 1980's  he went to work for Dow Corning Corporation in Midland where he stayed for over 30 years  He held numerous positions over that time, whereby, he was able to  travel the world and visited every continent except Africa.

 Bob met his wife (Diane) a mechanical engineer, at work and they married in 1995 and moved to the Brighton,MI area. They both worked out of the Dow Corning Automotive center in Plymouth, Diane as Facilities Manager and Bob in Automotive Sales.  Brighton is where they raised both a son (Brian) and daughter (Danielle). Brian is currently a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) and working on his residency in Myrtle Beach SC., and Danielle is married working as an RN  and studying to be a Nurse Practicer (NP) at Clemson, while living in Greenville SC.  Bob and Diane both retired early to enjoy the kids and travel. Currently, they have a winter home in Hilton Head, SC.  Bob over the years has volunteered on several boards Dow Chemical Credit Union (Midland) Shepherd of the Lakes, and is currently on the United Way of Livingston Board. In his spare time he volunteered at Gleaners, refereed youth basketball and plays golf.  Diane has also volunteered and is currently a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for foster kids working for LACASA.

In the early years, Brighton being a much smaller community with a German influence was quite tight knit, so it wasn't uncommon to have family relatives in the area.  It just happens that in the Musch family line the family tree is quite broad and extends to several common names at the time being Conrad, Herbst and Green.  You will note there are several roads in the area with names representing these families

Regards Bob Musch