Author Clayton Klein

Fowlerville has an author.

Well, Fowlerville has many authors . . . but one in particular is Clayton Klein.

If you have never heard of him . . . this is a 90-year old native of Fowlerville, still living in the house where he was born, an author of 7 books, former business owner of Klein Fertilizers, publisher of Wilderness Adventure Press, and a man that has recorded walking over 56,000 miles in the last 40 years.

He is also promoting his latest book A Well-Kept Secret, a story of the Tigers from the years 1933-46, home-run hitter Hank Greenberg, and Clayton's wife. Well, his wife, Marjorie, before their 62 years together when she was still Marjorie Nash.

I devoured the book last night after listening to Clayton speak at the Fowlerville Library. For any baseball fan, there is a treasure trove of trivia and some statistics, including information on some of the ball players' years after being in the show.

But what I found most interesting was Marjorie's talent for sketching. Clayton lovingly displayed quite a few pieces of her work in the book. She had a love for sketching celebrities, then sending the picture to that person, asking for an autograph. She received back autographed sketches from the likes of Claudette Colbert and Barbara Stanwyck (shown), and others such as Jimmy Stewart, and, of course, Hank Greenberg.

She captured an era of beauty in the sketches Clayton offered up in the book. If only there were more to look at. Maybe someday he would consider putting together a book of all of her sketches, the notes she wrote, and the notes and envelopes (saved by her) that held those treasures when returned from the celebrities.