Valentine J Maciak

Valentine Maciag, was a confirmed bachelor.  Did not like the name Valentine, everyone called him "Walter".  Never married.  Did what he wanted and when he wanted. Was a 2 fisted drinker.  Was a proud member of the various veterans organization (VFW, AMVETS, Polish Veteans The American Legion, even the Canadian Legion).  Before the massive heart attack that took his life, he planned on moving to his property in Columbus, New Mexico.  He planned to personally build his house on the property that would have been in the middle of a city block he owned.  Visited Canada and Mexico often. Walter was a carpenter, a plumber, an electrician, a cement layer, a painter and an artitect.  But never had a trademan's card or degree. 

The first house he personally built in Madison Hgts, MI, had no basement.  For some reason a few years after this house was completed, he decieded it needed a basement.  So, he put the house on jacks and hand dug a full basement.  The house his parents owned on 32nd st in Detroit had no basement either.  All these houses on 32nd St we about 4 or 5 feet away from each other.  For some reason the lot next to this house became available, so he and his brothers hand dug a basement and had the house moved over this hole, and put a driveway in with a garage in the back yard.

Walter could sniff a bargain a mile away.  He took his 18 year old nephew on a 2-1/2 week trip out to the Southwest USA in 1967, when they were in Omaha, Neb, they heard on the radio that Detroit was burning during the riots.  We drove non stop to get back home, because he was worried about his house that was a few miles from the epicenter.