Burt Reynolds (center) laughs with Florida State University football coach Bobby Bowden (left) and Michigan State Uni ‘Lansing State Journal/ROD SANFORD versity football coach George Peries before the stert of the game Saturday at MSU. MSU lost 31-3. Burt comes home to Donora Street By PETER SLEETH Lansing State Journal 11 was supposed to happen something like this: Burt Reynolds would slide up in front of Marie Riley's house at 1703 Donora St. — probably in a limousine — and cooly, she ‘Would invite him into his childhood home to She would be calm, gracious and maybe a litte bit charming, Te-didn’t happen like that wish I hadn't been $9 alrheaded,” she sald. *Tve been waiting for years for him to ‘come back — all the things I would do and ‘Say —and I lost it.” ‘Maybe it was the extraordinary man in ‘Such ordinary surroundings. or maybe it was the Hollywood mystique. Whatever it was, it blew Marie's cool. And her daugnter, Teresa Riley, ust missed the whole thing, T inissed him by about t¥o minutes, He only stayed for five minutes," she said Sstur day. "Texpected he'd be here this morning. ‘Reynolds, in town as a radio commentator for the Florida State football team at the FSU-Michigan State University game Satur fay, surprised the Riley family by showing tp at thelr Lansing Rome about 6 p.m. Fri day. He stayed — outside — for about five ‘minutes before leaving. Reynolds spent most of Saturday at Spar: 1n Stadium, where he avoided fans by hang. Wf Out with is team or ferreting himself away in the far reaches of the press box. A former football ‘player for the Seminoles, Reynolds isa fanatical fan and donates regu: larly to the university Reynolds was born in Lansing and spent his earliest years in the nouse on. Donora Street. He sald Thursday that his mother hed asked him to stop by the old home and take a picture for her. And it Just so happens Marie Riley lives there now “Tcouldn’t believe it when I looked out the window and saw him; T thought he'd just Send somebody by to take a picture,” she sald Riley described Reynolds as “ordinary and very quiet” during the short stay. About fight neighbors gathered around the screen star during his visit, Cars have been cruising by the house ever since, unaware Reynolds had been and gone already. Margarett Mack, a neighbor who got close ‘enough to shake hands, said it wasa thrill for the neighborhood, Thea she pointed to Marie Riley and confided, "She gave him a big iss. {Lansing State vourra/ROD SANFORD Marie Riley {right) and her daughter, Teresa, stand in front of their house et 1703 Bonora St., where Burt Reynolds ‘once lived,By JIM HOUGH Leave it to Onlooker readers to get at the truth of the matter. Alas, Burt Reynolds was not born near Lake City, Michigan. Then where washe born, you ask? Lansing, that’s where. Several weeks ago, Mrs. Wanda Brookman of 505 Hodge called the Onlooker to say she is a “distant cousin” of Burt Reynolds and that her relatives claim he was born near Lake City. Last week Mrs. Brookman called to make a cor- rection, saying: “I must apologize for giving you misinformation about Burt Reynolds and his birthplace. After the item appeared in the paper, I began to hear reports that my information was wrong and that Burt really was born in Lansing, not Lake City.” I asked Mrs. Brookman to turn reporter for a day and check the matter out. A few days later, she walked into the newsroom carrying a photostatic copy of Burt's birth certificate. “I had to tell the Michigan State Health Depart- ment clerks I was a relative of his before they'd check on it for me,” Mrs. Brookman said as she handed me the certificate. The Onlooker The certificate shows that Burton Leon Reynolds was born Feb. 11, 1936, in a home at 1703 Donora. “That's Burt. His father was Burton Milo Reynolds who lived in Eaton Rapids before he came to Lansing. He worked at the Reo plant when Burt was born,” Mrs. Brookman said. “Burt's mother was Fern Miller. She was originally. from the Lake City area but she came to Lansing to attend the St. Lawrence Hospital Nurses School. She graduated there in 1926. I guess Burt and Fern met in Lansing when she was a nurse here,” she said. So there, Onlooker readers, we have something to brag about in Lansing. We can claim this is Burt Reynolds’ home town. Mr. and Mrs. Donald Riley and their children now live in that house at 1703 Donora. When informed that Reynolds was born in their home, the family reacted with excitement. One of the children yell ‘Wow, do I have something for show and tell tomorrow.” xk George Haddad, 60, of 1624 Willowbrook. wants to start an Onlooker contest to see who is the oldest former Safety Patrol boy in Lansing. “I was a Safety Patrol boy when I was a fifth grader 48 years ago at Logan Street School,” he said. Who will bid 49 years?