DAVE CELANI

 I am a director of the Historical Society and creator of this web site. I currently live in Bay City, but I lived in the Watrousville area for about 10 years after I retired from from Detroit Edison in 1997. I fell in love with the area and its history. One of my many hobbies is printing. I have an early 1900s working print shop in my garage, complete with lead type and printing presses. Although I don’t do any commercial work, I have been printing tickets, programs and other items for the Historical Society for the last few years.

ALEXANDER GORASHKO, A director, has been a Society member since 1979.

Al was born in Saginaw in 1924 and lived there most of his young life.  In high school, he took up electric shop. He was drafted during W.W. II, and got a job as a tail-gunner on a B-24 bomber crew flying out of Italy. They were shot down in August of 1944. Eight  crew members were killed. He and a waist-gunner became POWs until the war’s end in May of 1945.

After getting out of the Army, Al began working  for the Michigan Bell Telephone company as a toll testman, also working related jobs, eventually retiring with 41 years of service.  In 1974, he married Esther Richardson of Fairgrove.  In 1975, they built a new home near Watrousville. Wanting to be part of the local community, they joined the Historical Society in 1979. As older members were dying off they became active in running the Society, with Esther becoming the secretary and Al becoming a director.

Being handy with tools, Al began helping Nick Grabowski by building and installing display cabinets and adding lights inside the museum. Later, with the Society needing a place for records, Al converted an old, dirty storage room into a modern office. He has written a book “Survival” about his experiences as a tail-gunner and prisoner of war. His hobbies are: History, reading, travel, metal and wood working, building electronics projects, and making music CDs and pictures using a computer. He urges people to become involved in preserving history, because when its gone, there is no bringing it back.