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SHELBY TOWNSHIP/STERLING HEIGHTS/UTICA — A Utica Community Schools dad recently returned an overdue library book that he borrowed more than 40 years ago when he attended the same elementary school that his daughters do now, Dresden Elementary School.
Pier Fazzalari wanted to read to his two daughters, kindergartener Adrianna and second grader Alexandria, some of the stories that he loved growing up. When he opened one of the books to read it, he found a stamp that said, “Dresden Elementary School,” which is where he attended school as a child more than 40 years ago.
The book is a reading series anthology called “Cloverleaf,” which is now back in the possession of Dresden Elementary. The school district joked in a press release that officials are trying to determine the overdue fine.
After attending Dresden Elementary School, Fazzalari attended Sterling Junior High — now known as Bemis Junior High — and Henry Ford II High School. He got married, bought a house in 2002 in the same neighborhood where he grew up, and had his daughters.
He said he noticed his old books at his parents’ house last year.
“I pulled one out and said, ‘I remember this one,’ and I opened up the page and saw the stamp ‘Dresden Elementary.’ I was like, ‘Huh, why would it say that?’” he said.
He had checked out the book at Dresden in the second grade, in 1978, and never returned it.
Fazzalari remembers the book and the stories inside.
“It was in my parents’ basement the whole time until I grabbed all the books to read to my girls — and I thought, ‘Huh, I should probably bring it up to school. It belongs in the library,’” he said.
He said the school looks almost exactly the same on the outside.
“The teachers are great. My wife is a lunch mom at the school, so she goes and knows all the teachers. They do a great job,” he said.
He said he even remembers some of the teachers.
“I also remember walking to the school in snow — when we were kids, there was a lot more snow on the ground,” he said.
He said Dresden got one of the first computers available to schools, and they were huge by today’s standards.
He currently works as a Warren firefighter.
Brad Suggs, the Dresden Elementary School principal, said Fazzalari approached him one morning while he was greeting students and asked, “Does the school assess fines for overdue books?” Suggs replied, “If you just bring the book back, we will be good.” Fazzalari then said, “But what if the book is 40 years late?”
“At first, I was speechless, and then we both started laughing,” Suggs said.
Suggs said that he told Fazzalari that he was not sure how big the fine would be for a book more than 40 years overdue.
“Jokingly, I told him I would have to figure that one out. We then decided that a book fine that overdue could only be repaid by him buying cookies for the staff, and we sent him an overdue notice stating so. I thought it was very respectful that, after so many years, he still thought of returning the book so many years later. As an educator, I was thrilled that he takes the time out of his busy day to read to his children,” he said.
