About Eileen Trombley Glick
My DETROIT and ST. CLAIR SHORES connections
Born at Cottage Hospital on September 20, 1948, the first
of four children born to Albert F. Trombley Jr. and
Eleanor Mary Doherty Trombley. I'm the eldest grandhild
on both sides of the family, and my parents were firstborns, too.
Our first home was built by my dad
in St. Clair Shores. Less than a year
later, when my mom discovered she
was "p.g." with my sister Diane, my
dad got busy on a bigger place, the
first of five houses he would construct
between 10 and 11 Mile Rds.,
Jefferson and Lake St. Clair.
Two years later, with sister Nancy
on her way, we moved into our next
house. However, within a year, my
mother became very ill. My dad sold
the house to pay her medical bills.
In 1955, they were ready for their
next house where my brother Albert III ("Al") was born in 1958.
In fall 1966, four months after I graduated high school, my parents
moved into their fourth home on Lakeland.
My childhood in St. Clair Shores was typical 50s/60s Detroit suburbia. There were a zillion kids in the neighorhood and everyone knew everyone. My sisters and brother and I also had the good fortune of growing up around our extended Trombley clan: grandparents, uncles, aunts, 30 first cousins, and a boatload of second cousins.
From kindergarten through 2nd grade, I attended Lakewood Elementary, 3rd -6th was St. Lucy, 7th and 8th at St. Isaac Jogues, and 9th-12th at Regina High School in Harper Woods, graduating in 1966.
It was during high school that I met a great group of friends,
15-20 teens who lived around 7 Mile and Kelly. We spent our summers having backyard record parties, swimming in Lake St. Clair, going to Bob-Lo, Edgewater Park, Aldo's Pizza, Tastee Freez, and our winters ice skating at Heilman, or going to sock hops at Denby, Notre Dame or St. Jude Teen Club. We shopped at Eastland.
After graduation, I registered for Fall 1966 classes at Macomb County Community College. Instead, I found a job downtown as
a public relations assistant at J. Walter Thompson advertising agency. Their offices were in the Buhl Building. At that time their main clients were Ford Motor Company and Champion Spark Plug. I rode the Jefferson bus or carpooled to work, but on days when
I had a night class at the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts,
I drove the new two-door 1967 Chevy Malibu I'd ordered from the factory through Gene Merollis for $2,750. Metalic gold with black cloth interior and a black vinyl top, it had had an AM radio with reverb. Very cool.
I met my future husband at JWT in late '67. We resigned on the same day and began dating. He was a recent graduate of the University of Detroit, a newly-hired Burroughs salesman, and an East Lansing native. Our first apartment as newlyweds was a one-bedroom at the corner of Joann and Greiner, not far from Gratiot and McNichols and the Ramona Theater, for $90 a month.
Our daughter Marchelle was born in 1969 at St. John Hospital.
A year later, we moved to Toledo, Ohio, where my husband had taken a job. In 1972, my son Todd was born.
In the spring of 1973, we made a decision to move to Atlanta where the weather was warmer and the employment opportunities much more plentiful. From 1974-1979, I worked at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta. In 1975, my husband and I were 'unmarried,' and four years later, when my kids were ages 10 and 7, the three of us packed up a U-Haul and moved to Phoenix.
For more info on me beyond this point, go to CAREER INFO
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MY PARENTS
Albert Trombley Jr. (1920-2003)
Eleanor Mary Doherty (1927-1980)
They met at Jefferson Beach
Amusement Park in June 1947.
He was working at the park as a
carpenter on the Fun House
after serving four years as a
Staff Sargent in the Marines.
She worked as a secretary for
St. Vincent de Paul.
When my dad spotted my mom, her sister and friend at the Park,
he introduced himself and then tagged along long enough to get
her phone number (LA 6-3081). They began dating and one month later he proposed. They were married at Our Lady of Good Counsel in November 1947. They raised a family, travelled extensively, with and without us kids, and when she died at age 54 of breast cancer, they'd been happily married for 33 years.
In 1984, my dad built a fifth house on Lakeland. He died at age 82. He never stopped missing my mom.
Oftentimes during his life, he would talk about his father and grandfather, the early settlers of St. Clair Shores, and about his ancestors who helped settle Grosse Pointe.
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THE TROMBLEY/TREMBLAY LINEAGE
In the mid-1700's, less than a decade after
Cadillac founded Detroit, Ambrose, Augustin
and Pierre Tremblay and Guillame LaForest,
all Catholics, were sent to Detroit from
Bais St. Paul, Quebec by the French. The four,
considered to be the first settlers of
Grosse Pointe, were "ribbon"or "strip" farmers.
This is my direct lineage to Ambrose:
Ambrose Tremblay
Joseph Francois Tremblay
Peter Tremblay
Jerome Tremblay
Isadore Trombley
Albert Frank Trombley Sr.
Albert Frank Trombley Jr.
Eileen Trombley Glick
(It's regretful that the name was changed. I prefer Tremblay.)
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MY PATERNAL GRANDPARENTS:
Albert ("Bert") F. Trombley (1893-1960)
Ida Opal Cox (1899-1978)
My grandfather was a life-long resident of St. Clair Shores. Of predominantly French ancestry, he was a skilled carpenter and house-mover, and he spoke French fluently.
In 1919, he met and married my
grandmother. She had earned a
teaching certificate at age 19 from
a college in Indiana, but moved to
Michigan the following year, and met
my grandfather.
Together they had six children:
Albert Frank Jr. (1920-2003)
Charles (1925-2006)
Wayne (1927-2004)
John (1930-)
Mary Ruth (1933-)
Stuart (1934-)
all born at their home on 10 Mile Rd
between Jefferson and Harper in St. Clair Shores.
______________________________________________________
MATERNAL GRANDPARENTS:
Frank Edward Doherty (1902-1976)
Melita Catherine Dederich (1903-1997)
My grandparents were both born in Detroit to Catholic families.
They'd met in school at age 14, and married on September 18, 1923 at St.Catherine's in Detroit.
Although he had no formal education, my grandfather retired from General Motors Tech Center as an Engineer. He was as Irish as they come, so much so that he converted his basement into what resembled an Irish pub.
My grandmother, a homemaker, whose father was a City of Detroit policeman, was of German and Czech descent.
My mother, Eleanor, was born in 1927 in Detroit. Her two younger sisters. Eileen and Joan, and brother, Richard, were also both in Detroit. They lived in a house on Van Dyke in Detroit.
In 1942, my grandparents built a new house on
Annott between Greiner and McNichols, a block from
Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church. Within
walking distance was the Ramona Theater, and 7 Mile
and Gratiot was their shopping mecca.
My mother and her sisters graduated from
Dominican High School, and my uncle from
De La Salle. In 1953, my mother's youngest sister,
now Sr. Elisa, became a Dominican nun and currently
Grandpa Doherty's hobbies were music, woodworking,
traveling with my grandmother and shooting pool.
Their house on Annott was sold in 1997 to its second
owners and, as the picture at left shows, they've kept it
in tip-top condition. My grandfather would be proud.
