THE VISION ISSUE - City of Shaker Heights

mental values of the city, the caring
about the community and education,
are homogenous. We want to be with
our neighbors, we care about family,
community, schools. It is self-perpetuating.
In most places, you get the flip:
more homogenous, but values all over
the place,” notes Clark.
“The fact that my brothers and
friends from school found their way
back here was reassuring. I looked at
what I value and know that they share
the same set of values,” says Kevin
about his decision to come back.
Though their own baseball playing
days have been interrupted by the obligations
of adulthood, their love of the
game has not been left behind. Last
spring, as the grass started growing
and the frost gave way to dew, Clark
and Kevin gleefully corralled a gaggle
of nine-year-old boys, including some
young Khayats, placed them on the
field and began hitting pop-flys and
grounders to them.
On any given evening, Tim would
wander over to the field to cheer on
the team or to keep their mother, Anita
Khayat, company as she watched her
sons and grandsons play ball. Ever the
dedicated coaches, Clark and Kevin
steered the “Lookouts” deep into the
playoffs. While the team didn’t take
home the trophy, they did take home
a love of the game and a summer full
of memories. And sure enough, life
comes full circle.
Fowlers:
It’s all about location and people
“I love walking the kids to school,”
says Mity Fowler, who along with husband
Jef and three children, are relative
newcomers to Shaker (Jef actually
lived here until he was three months
old). They aren’t, however, newcomers
to neighborhoods where kids play outside
and neighbors know each other.
“This feels like where we grew up,”
says Jef. Both Mity and Jef grew up in
suburbs along Chicago’s North Shore
where there was an emphasis on superior
schools and neighborhoods.
The Fowlers were specifically looking
to recreate that strong sense of
community for their own children.
When they relocated from Charlotte,
North Carolina for Jef ’s job at Key-
Bank, they looked around at many
other suburbs, but they landed here.
Location and people were the driving
forces behind their decision. The
close proximity to downtown Cleveland,
University Circle and its array of
cultural institutions had great appeal.
“If we were farther away, how often
would we really use these things”
ponders Jef. Now, they take advantage
SHAKER LIFE DECEMBER | JANUARY 2013 35