Rubin: For older couple, wrong concert but right place - The Detroit News
A concert seemed like a good idea. Mary and Jeff Pardee were beginning to have doubts. Watching them make their way through DTE Energy Music Theatre last month, so was Gloria Baker. And they didn’t look like anybody else. To start with, they had come straight from a funeral, he in a black suit and a necktie and she in a black skirt and sweater. What Jeff Pardee did to bring them to that moment was loving and thoughtful. What Baker did to give them a better moment was also thoughtful. The occasion was Mary’s birthday, plus one day. The Pardees, who live in Grand Blanc, have fond memories of shows at the amphitheater they still call Pine Knob. Mary particularly enjoyed one evening with Barry Manilow. Jeff, whose goal was to take his wife to the nearest show to her birthday, thought maybe he’d bought tickets to an oldies revue. At the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, the Pardees were most definitely fish out of water. The Pardees met in college, working at an Eastern Michigan University cafeteria. He became the director of management and budget for Oakland County, then finance director for the city of Adrian. Source: www.detroitnews.com
