This is part 2 of a 3-part series. To read part 1, click here.
For the last 38 years, as the information and tools available on the internet gradually became robust, I would occasionally revisit my search for Mr. Campbell. But, as time went on, I gradually lost all but a small handful of memories. And sadly, I somehow lost my lesson book, which I had been holding onto in the hopes that it would help me solve this mystery one day. Gone are all the cartoons and other unique bits of Mr. Campbell’s personality, as well as other clues that may have been useful. I grieve that loss.
Until a few months ago, the only tangable reminder of Mr. Campbell having been in my life was a piece of sheet music: Polka Vivace (click here to view a PDF scan). The music is copyrighted 1966 and was published by Brahms Music Publishing Company at 316½ S Main St, Royal Oak. That property today sits above Tom’s Oyster Bar.
In 1985 he had invited me to a recital performance held at Smiley Brothers in Detroit and, while they are long since gone, a copy of the program (click here to view a PDF scan) survived nestled away within the many papers my grandmother left behind when she died a few years ago. And it was this program, found only a few months ago, that ended up providing a huge clue.
The recital was presented by Mr. Campbell who, according to a blurb on the back, founded the Brahms Conservatory in 1961.
Was Brahms Conservatory related to Brahms Music Publishing Company? Were they somehow connected? As it would turn out, they were both companies started by Mr. Campbell, and they both shared the same address in Royal Oak. But I’m again getting ahead of myself.
In the past, searches for Polka Vivace, Brahms Music Publishing, obituaries, or anything else relating to Mr. Campbell returned no results. But now the potential research avenues were opening up quickly, and I was starting to change my approach at how to search.
Now tools like ChatGPT are available, with stores of information gathered from the internet. I wondered whether it could help find him or at least connect pieces of information or suggest research avenues I hadn’t considered. So I asked.
Nothing. Not a damned thing.
However, I had an assortment of memories and facts that I could certainly use a GPT to compile and analyze, so I did just that.
I typed in everything I could remember:
- he was tall and overweight
- he was middle-aged
- he had dark hair and a mustache, possibly glasses
- he lived within a reasonable distance of my home in Warren
- he took yearly trips to Rio de Janeiro
- a vague memory of visiting his house, which may have been on a dead-end street
- and a vague memory of his sister contacting and telling us he died from a heart attack
And now I had a recital program to add to that. I fed all of this into ChatGPT, and it made some potential connections and suggestions that I hadn’t considered, which has helped me pursue new avenues.
I’d been using Ancestry.com to research and build my own family tree for a few years… could I use it to find Mr. Campbell? It was a long shot, but I decided to give it a try.
And do you know what? I found him within a few hours of searching! Well… I actually found three Kenneth Campbells, all who had at least one sister, all within an acceptable radius of my home in Warren, and all within an acceptable age range.
But there was only one who really stood out: death in 1988 from a heart attack, matching my hazy memories; certainly not concrete proof, but good enough to pick as my first research point. Access to census records showed that this Kenneth Campbell grew up in Ferndale. Other associated records had his final address on Carlisle St. in Hazel Park.
Making the assumption that, if he had founded the Brahms Conservatory in 1961, he would have been at least 18 by that year to legally form a business. This means he would have had to have been born no later than 1943. And assuming that, as a middle aged man (when he taught me), he would have been no older than about 60, that would mean he shouldn’t have been born before 1928. Associated records at Ancestry.com indicated that this Kenneth was born in 1932. There were also scans of the 1950 Hazel Park High School yearbook – where he likely would have attended when he would have been a senior.
Opening those scans, I found his photo. He looked familiar but I wasn’t sure. So I copied all the pictures I could find of him and sent them to the only other person I know who knew him: my mother.
She replied nearly immediately, “That’s him“.
This Kenneth Campbell was very likely my Kenneth Campbell!
Elated, but cautious, I continued my search for more evidence. Memory is fickle, and I was asking my mother to remember someone from almost 40 years ago, based on a high school picture taken almost 40 years before that.
The records on Ancestry.com indicated that Kenneth Campbell’s last address was on Carlisle St. in Hazel Park. I looked it up using Google Maps street view and I was in shock! Memories of the house I remembered visiting started to come back, especially since this house had a novel feature that I didn’t understand at the time (and had actually forgotten): a second front door leading up to a second floor flat. And while the house isn’t on a dead end street, it is right around the corner from a street which ends at a park (though not a dead end). Still not concrete proof, but definitely another potential puzzle piece falling into place.
By this point, I was nearly certain I had found him. But little did I know where my journey was about to take me in so short an amount of time. I was, in reality, still only on Day One of my research and had already made much progress.
It turned out that there was so much more to discover. Stay tuned!
Listen to a bad-quality, digitally rendered version of Polka Vivace:
Note: This post was written with a small amount of ChatGPT to help proofread, tighten up the language, and keep me on track with the research I’ve been using it to help compile and connect data points. Additionally, many of the photos have been cleaned up and slightly enhanced with the use of AI assistance.