Retired teachers maintain friendship at assisted living facility

BIRMINGHAM/ROCHESTER HILLS — Carol Schraeger, 81, and Carol Petersen, 92,  are affectionately known as “the Carols” at American House Village of Rochester.

From working together at Pembroke Elementary School in Birmingham Public Schools in the ‘80s to living in the same assisted living facility, the two women are nearly inseparable.

“We met at the point in time when I had received a principalship at Pembroke Elementary in Birmingham Schools, and I had the pleasure of being able to hire. Carol was working elsewhere in the district, but she had been sent over for the interview, and it was sort of obvious. I mean, we just clicked right at the beginning, and I had the good fortune to be able to hire her,” Schraeger remarked.

Petersen said, “I had five children of my own, and then I had four stepchildren, so I was used to having children around, and I have wonderful children. I’m a very lucky person and I loved the kids at school. It was just like I was plunked down in the perfect spot for me.”

Although the pair didn’t meet until the 1980s, Petersen shared that when she was new to Birmingham, she couldn’t send her children to school because the teachers were on strike. Schraeger laughed and shared that she was a new teacher that year, in 1966.

Schraeger reflected on her career in the Birmingham Public School District.

“I was in Birmingham for a total of 37 years, but going all the way back, I’m from Ohio,” she said. “I got my degree at Bowling Green State University, crossed the border, came up here to work, and was fortunate enough to land in Birmingham. It was a great career ladder because not only was I a  classroom teacher – a first grade teacher for 20 years, which was my absolute favorite – I then went into teaching the gifted and talented students. Then I worked with training of teachers, and then I went into administration in that 37 years.”

Schraeger said that she was a principal for 17 years, but added that, “I always wanted to be a teacher and always played teacher as a child.”

Petersen reflected on her time teaching at Pembroke and living in the neighborhood where many of her students also lived.

“It was Halloween, and I lived in a neighborhood of small houses, and a lot of children in the neighborhood, and a bunch of kids came to the door, banged on the door, and I opened it,” she said. “It was so quiet. They stood there, and they said,  ‘She looks just like the lady that works at Pembroke.’ I said, ‘I am the lady that works at Pembroke.’”

She added that since they were new to the school, and so was she, she had an “open door” policy with her students and the parents if they saw her outside and ever wanted to talk.

Petersen retired in 1993, which was followed by Schraeger’s retirment in 2001.

“Our lives came back together in 2016 when I moved in here. I had come to visit her, and I said, ‘Oh, this place could work.’ My husband was entering into some health conditions, and it would be a good place that I could get some assistance,” Schraeger said.

Petersen has a 16-year history at American House Village of Rochester. She explained that she first moved there in 2008 with her husband, who was 10 years older than her.

“He needed to be here, and I didn’t, but he died six months after we moved, so I moved back to my house in Birmingham and lived there for five years,” she said. “I got sick and went to Mayo Clinic and couldn’t be in my house anymore at first, so I came out here again and I looked at six places before I moved back here.”

After her two daughter moved to Florida, Petersen followed suit before eventually deciding to move back to American House.

“I couldn’t breathe there, and so I moved back here,” she said.

“And I was so glad when she returned,” Schraeger exclaimed.

Schraeger added that living in assisted living has been freeing, with a range of community activities to enjoy.

Both Schraeger and Petersen have a pet to keep them company. Schraeger has a Yorkie named Toby and Petersen has a cat named Owen.

Schraeger shared that her dog is the only thing that limits her because she is still active and enjoys traveling, especially going on cruises with her family.

Petersen said that she still has a car.

“My car is as old as my cat,” she said. “That’s no joke. My husband had died, and he didn’t like cats, so I got a new car and a cat,” Petersen said.

Petersen and Schraeger are so close that they even park right next to each other in the parking lot.

“I recently said , ‘We are now seniors living in a dormitory,’” Schraeger said.