Michele Fecht, Neighbor

Email: mmfecht@aol.com

Phone: 248.344.9412

I have been a writer and editor for more than 30 years, primarily working as a print journalist in the newspaper field. After graduating from Michigan State University in 1980, I began my newspaper career as a reporter for The Northville Record. In my seven-year tenure with The Record, I gained invaluable newspaper experience, a love of this charming community, a husband (former Record photographer Steve Fecht) and a historic home in the heart of downtown.

I left The Record in 1987 to work as a reporter for The Detroit News, eventually becoming an assistant editor. During my tenure at The News, I also was a visiting faculty member at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies. I have received local, state and national writing and editing awards from the Michigan Press Association, National Newspaper Association and the Society of Newspaper Design. 

In 1995, with an 18-month-old and a preshooler added to the family mix, a house addition under construction (same historic house) and a husband (same husband) moving into the management ranks as assistant photo director at The Detroit News, I decided to turn my attention to working from home as a freelance writer.

For the past 15 years, I have worked for numerous newspapers and publications including six years as a contract writer for the Chicago Tribune. My work also has appeared in The Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, Hour magazine and other publications.

In addition to writing and editing, I have focused much of my attention on raising two children (now 16 and 20) and volunteering in the Northville community. I currently am serving on the Northville City Council, a position I have held since 2005, as well as the Northville Senior Advisory Commission. I also have been a trustee of the Northville District Library and the Northville Youth Assistance Commission. I was privileged to chair the City of Northville's 50th Anniversary Committee in 2005.

This past year I ventured into book publishing with Northville, one of the latest volumes in Arcadia Publishing's Images of America series. The book, published in September 2010, tells the story of our community primarily through archival photographs  – a true labor of love for the place I have called home for 25 years.