By James Hanlon Leader Staff Writer For as long as she can remember, Jillian Wolf always wanted to be an Irish dancer. She started tap and ballet when she was only two, but it was not until she was 11 when she at last found a place to take Irish dance lessons. She was hooked. […]
Jillian Wolf, an Irish dancer from Oxford, MI, and the Assistant Director of Motor City Irish Dance in Rochester Hills, MI, is participating in a video scholarship competition for Fusion Dance Fest, a world-wide Irish dance camp held entirely online at the end of July. The dancer whose video receives the most views […]
By Teddy Rydquist Leader Staff Writer Beth Hubbard, a 2005 Oxford High School graduate, was named the interim head women’s golf coach at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, the school announced on June 11. Joining the faculty in the fall of 2016 as an assistant professor in the radio-television-film department, Hubbard had also served as a […]
By James Hanlon Leader Staff Writer Mike Kubiak was clearing the ground for his backyard garden, when he picked up an odd looking stone. “As soon as I looked at it I thought, ‘Wow, that’s the shape of an axe!’ Just like that, it just jumped at me,” Kubiak said. The roughly flat, rectangular stone […]
By James Hanlon Leader Staff Writer Alex VanHaren, 14, of Oxford was recognized this month for his outstanding volunteer service at the 25th annual, and first-ever virtual, Prudential Spirt of Community Awards. Over the past five years, VanHaren donated more than 7,500 hats, gloves and scarves to 22 schools and more than 20 charitable organizations […]
By James Hanlon Leader Staff Writer Prickles, the trumpeter swan rescued from the Polly Ann Trail in Addison Township last November, has a new a partner and a new name at the Detroit Zoo, in Royal Oak. She has been paired with the zoo’s male swan, cleverly named Ron Swanson. Naturally, the zoo renamed Prickles […]
By Don Rush Leave it to the young to find ways to be happy and postive just by spreading cheer and kindness to others. Case-in-point, we introduce Leader readers to eight-year-old Alexa “Lexi” Keat. A paper she wrote while at home with her family and not finishing out her second grade class of Daniel Axford […]
By James Hanlon Leader Staff Writer Many organizations have been working diligently to ensure no one goes hungry during the crisis caused by COVID-19. House of Hope Ministry, for example, is helping feed residents of local mobile and manufactured homes. When the crisis began in March, the mobile home-based nonprofit put together sack lunches for […]
Former Leonard resident Shirley DuRocher and horse owner recently returned from the Pinto Horse Association’s annual convention with the top award. Her horse, Krymsun Investment (Cooper) was the high point open horse for 2019. The convention was this past March in Tulsa, Oklahoma. DuRocher, now of Metamora, received a belt buckle and trailer for Cooper’s […]
By James Hanlon Leader Staff Writer Eugene “Geno” and Marlene Mallia were married at the Leonard Methodist Church 65 years ago, on March 19, 1955. Besides a three-month stint in Detroit, they’ve lived their entire marriage in Leonard. They met on a blind date in 1954 when Marlene was in nursing school at St. Joe’s […]