Hugh Opaquing

My uncle Hugh Cleage at Cleage Printers.

The last time we met my uncle Hugh Cleage, he was farming during WW2 as a conscientious objector. By 1950 Hugh and Henry were back in Detroit. Hugh was working as a postal clerk at the post office. He continued there until he and Henry went into the printing business in 1956. They bought a press with the help of their brother Dr. Louis Cleage and opened the shop in the building behind the doctor’s office on McGraw on the old West side of Detroit They continued until after the 1967 Detroit riot when many of the grocery stores they printed for went out of business. Hugh continued to teach printing to members of the Shrine of the Black Madonna for a few years until his mother fell and broke her hip and he became her full time caregiver.

Opaquing/Making Book
Cleage Printers

Purebreds and Conscientious Objectors
Q – Quiet Hugh Clarence Cleage
Hugh Cleage Wrapped Up
Hugh Cleage Skiing
A boy and his dog – Hugh Cleage
Skating Champions, Hugh, Gladys and Anna Cleage – 1940s
The Cleage Photographers
Hugh Fishing At the Meadows
Summer of 1962 in a sound car – the 3 + 1 Campaign
Tennis in the Alley

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11 thoughts on “Hugh Opaquing

  1. Opaque-ing. Not fair the way it’s spelled because I thought he was belonging to some great tribe or another. The Opaquings! Thanks for link that explained it. It reminded me of my secretarial days when we were thrilled to have bottles of white-out replace the eraser and brush to make corrections. Then came the correction taps on a tiny reel like ribbons. And maybe then we went into word processing.
    It was very interesting to learn about your uncle’s business, and how he continued to have different skill sets! So sorry the Detroit riots happened, what a sad time for everyone!

    1. He was a part of a great tribe – the Cleage family! I remember that progression through different eraser sets too. Now in printing they do all that interesting stuff on computers.

  2. What a fabulous photo of your Uncle Hugh! I am always inspired by your many talented and enterprising ancestors/relatives of all generations. There seems to be no challenge they could not tackle and make a success of. And kudos to your uncle for becoming a caregiver, a task that normally falls to a family’s women. Wishing you Happy Holidays!

  3. That’s a nice occupational portrait to preserve. Photos of people at work are a fascinating genre of collectible history, particularly when it’s some unusual activity. Some of the oldest examples I’ve seen are printers holding some of the special tools they used back when a printing press was exactly that. As a craftsman myself I always enjoy seeing someone’s workbench or shop.

  4. Having a photo of someone at work is somewhat rare as most photos of family are taken at family gatherings or on vacation or at other special events, and etc. You’re lucky to have such an interesting photo of your Uncle Hugh at work! 🙂

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