Perspective, Fall 2011 - University Liggett School

Third Annual
Distinguished
Alumni Award
Highlights
Alumni Weekend 2011
Gretchen Valade and Head of School Joseph P. Healey, Ph.D.
“It was her love
of jazz music
that set her
life’s course.”
Alumni and friends gathered to celebrate and honor
entrepreneur and philanthropist Gretchen C. Valade
with the third annual Distinguished Alumni Award
during the All-Alumni reception.
Valade is a member of the 1945 class of Grosse Pointe
Country Day School. She was nominated by alumna
Catherine Sphire Shell, Class of 1979, and was chosen
from among other nominees by the school’s Alumni
Board of Governors.
Valade’s extraordinary advocacy for jazz music in
the Detroit area, including sustaining the Detroit
International Jazz Festival and creating the elegant
Dirty Dog Jazz Café and Morning Glory Coffee and
Pastry Shop, has made an indelible mark on the
cultural landscape. And with Mack Avenue Records,
she has established a wonderful showcase for local and
national jazz artists.
Valade says it’s her way of honoring Detroit as the
music capital of the world.
“We can’t lose the music industry here – we need to
keep it alive,” she said. “I was just hoping to open up
everyone’s thinking and bring people in from all over
to listen to jazz.”
Valade and members of the Chris Codish Jazz Trio.
Valade remembers her time at Grosse Pointe Country
Day School with fondness and an appreciation of the
first-class education she received as a student. She
developed lifelong friendships and field hockey skills.
But it was her love of jazz music that set her life’s
course. “Jazz is uplifting, a foot tapper and brings
everyone together in a positive way,” she says.
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