Community Corner

Nostalgic Facebook Group About Growing Up in Shelby Township Explodes

The "If you grew up in Shelby Township, MI you remember..." page has the former kids of Shelby Township addicted, posting more than 3,000 comments in two days.

When former Shelby Township resident and Eisenhower graduate Jennifer Bowman Pascoe created the “If You Grew Up In Shelby Township, MI You Remember…” group page on Facebook Tuesday night, she never imagined that in less than 48 hours more than 2,000 people who grew up in the Township would be reminiscing about the “Good ol’ Days.”

“What a cool group..brings back lots of memories of growing up in Shelby Township..its' probably already been posted..but I sure do miss Pizza Machine..23&VanDyke..they had the hugest pizza slices ever!” wrote Renee Wyrembelski on the group page.

Pascoe said she got the idea to create the page after watching her parents, both of whom still live in Shelby Township, participate in a Facebook group about growing up in–oddly enough–Shelbyville, Ky.

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“I thought, 'cool'. 'I’ll set one (Facebook group) up.' I probably just sent it to 10 people and then it just took off from there,” said Pascoe, whose first nostalgic memory posted on the page was about hanging out at the Rink.

Since Tuesday night, Pascoe, who works at Plante and Moran in Southfield, has been busy managing the page. She has been accepting new people who want to comment on the page every hour.

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“I figure people want to say something. This will die down. It’s not going to go on forever,” she said. “There really wasn’t that much to do in Shelby. “

But the page isn’t slowing down just yet. A simple post asking what school users graduated from has garnered more than 150 comments.

“Not bad for out little Shelby Township Community,” said Pascoe.

Most all of the comments on the page have been positive teenage memories about growing up in Shelby Township.

“The old "corner store" at 24 & Shelby where the Mobil station is now..................a candy showcase counter to die for...........fill up a small paper bag with just 15 cents and a couple of old fashion gas pumps out front. The old barn where the Little Ceasars is, used to be a paper station for the Det. News delivery boy's,” said Tim Rivard.

“Going to Ocean Breeze after Shelby Junior High School dances! Good times!!” wrote Nicole Griessel Roche. And seven people agreed and added their own favorite Ocean Breeze memories.

“Its funny how so many generations of us are on Facebook now, and we were all doing the same things," said Pascoe. "That’s been neat to see too." 

Pascoe’s favorite part about the page is seeing people reconnect.

“All of a sudden, they realized they were neighbors or lived in the same house."

For Pascoe, who now lives in St. Clair Shores and is unable to attend her 20th high school reunion in a few weeks, the page has served as mini-reunion.

“I have had a few people ‘friend’ me from high school that I wasn’t friends with or didn’t know was on Facebook," she said.

Pascal said she’s thinking of making the social media meeting place a reality by organizing a “If You Grew Up In Shelby Township, MI You Remember...” reunion at a Shelby Township park.


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