Irene profile picture

Irene

I am here for Friends and Networking

About Me

I was born in Herman, Michigan and moved to Detroit with my parents and older sister when I was 7 weeks old. Herman was founded by my great-grandfather, Herman Keranen and my grandfather, Gustaf Kontio and a few others. They didn't know what to call the town, but decided to name it after Herman Keranen, or Herman, Michigan.I sang in church and high school, and later became a professional singer immediately following, and sang in clubs from Detroit to Montreal, Canada. I also sang in the Michigan Opera Theater (MOT) when it toured northern Michigan, and a local northern Michigan choral society.I married a highly praised school teacher, had four gorgeous, brilliant daughters--the four jewels in my crown--and am now retired on a lake in northern Michigan.

My Interests

Music, travel, meeting old friends, reading, politics

I'd like to meet:

I am looking for former friends from my school days in Detroit, as well as friends I met in Windsor, Montreal and Quebec, Canada, Cleveland and Cinncinnati, Ohio, and New York, New York.I am mainly interested in people of 50 or older. I would like to hear from friends who speak French and also from people in Finland (where my family came from), although my Finnish is quite limited. I am interested to find possible relatives in Puolonka and also Yliviesta, father and mother, respectively. Grandfather Gustave Kontio came from Yliviesta, and was the cousin of President Kallio of Finland. Mr. Kallio was president in the late 1930's or early 1940's.

Music:

Opera, Jack Jones, Kiri Ti Kanawa, Julie London, Shirley Horne, Marilyn Horne, B.B. King, all blues, Ravel's Pavane Pour Une Enfante Défunte, Madame Butterfly, and all other classical music.

Movies:

Classics: Laura, Casablanca, Double Indemnity, An American in Paris, Dumbo, Snow White. Any Bette Davis movie. All Christopher Reeve movies, especially "Somewhere in Time".

Television:

Boston Legal, The View, Rachael Ray, all science programs.

Books:

Mysteries, history, geography.

Heroes:

Molly Ivins, Howard Dean, Al Gore, Howard Zinn, Gore Vidal.

My Blog

Interests

I would like to chat with those who remember the past 60 years, but are also knowledgeable re current events.My picture was taken in the '50s and I'm using it to help contact anyone who knew me t...
Posted by Irene on Sun, 31 Dec 2006 12:45:00 PST

Added info.

The photo shown is one of me as a young teenager; the best picture I ever took.  I'm obviously older now, but I wanted to contact people from that period of my life who might still be around. Bac...
Posted by Irene on Sat, 02 Dec 2006 08:54:00 PST