THE VISION ISSUE - City of Shaker Heights

will step on the field with the Shaker
Heights High School marching band
in a few short years. And thus, the
next generation of band members and
groupies is born.
“I loved growing up in Shaker. I always
felt like it was a special place. It
had an intangible quality aside from
the architecturally beautiful homes,”
says Jennifer. “There is very much the
same sense of community and connection,”
Laura adds with a smile, “We
don’t see differences; we are a community.
There is love in the air here.”
As they contemplate what Shaker
might be like for their children’s children,
Jennifer says “I don’t think Shaker
will change much in the future. As
we give these same experiences to our
children, and they pass them down to
theirs, much of the fabric will stay the
same – people are happy to be here.
Citizens care deeply about it and it
shows.”
Khayats:
Living and Re-living the Dream
Thumbing through the “Ks” in the
Shaker Schools directory, it is hard not
to notice that the Khayats take up almost
a column of their own. Among
three boomeranging brothers and
their spouses, there are seven Khayats
enrolled in Shaker schools from
elementary school to the high school,
almost enough to field a baseball team.
It is with visions of neighborhood
baseball fields and well-worn
gloves dancing in their heads that
twin brothers Tim and Kevin (SHHS
’86) and their younger brother Clark
(SHHS ’89) recall their days in the
Onaway neighborhood in the 1970s
and ‘80s. The tri-campus area was an
ideal location for free play at Onaway,
Woodbury, and on the High School
ball fields, as well as Boulevard, Southerly
Park, and the Duck Pond. And,
play they did. “We left the house in
the morning and didn’t come back till
night,” says Tim.
“Baseball was a really big part of our
life,” says Kevin, who recently returned
after more than 20 years in England.
“We knew a lot of the Shaker baseball
players when we were growing up
because we lived near the ball fields
and they were around all summer. We
were honorary batboys,” he says with a
smile.
“We learned to play baseball by
playing all the time. There wasn’t a lot
of coaching, just playing,” adds Clark.
They loved the carefree days of summer
when they had the run of their
neighborhood, and later most of the
city, thanks to the “loop bus” which
ran on a circuit around town throughout
the summer. “You could hop on
it up near the high school and go up
to Thornton or go to sports camp at
Byron,” recalls Tim.
In boomeranging back to Shaker
from various places in the state, the
country, and the world, the brothers
Khayat are re-living the days of their
youth through the eyes of their children
and feeling satisfied that what existed
for them decades ago still thrives
today. Tim and Kevin, who now live in
Fernway and Clark, a Boulevard resident
say the unique sense of community
and connectedness still defines the
city.
While the loop bus is gone, the
neighborhood and block parties still
beckon the energetic youngsters. The
block parties on Daleford Road, where
Tim lives, are weekly and legendary.
“People are so surprised that we do
this every week. We even have a happy
hour signup sheet. Adults hang out
and socialize and the kids run all over
the street. We embrace this; I would
never want my kids not to have it,”
says Tim.
With his brothers nodding in agreement,
Clark sums up the essence of
their deep connection to Shaker and
what they hope their children will absorb
by living here: “One of the really
unique and compelling things is that
there is a ton of diversity and difference
on the surface, but the funda-
SHAKER LIFE DECEMBER | JANUARY 2013 33