About Me

The Family and me along with two kids from church at Blakes Apple Orchard in Fall 2019     

Dependent upon where you look or who you ask, some will refer to me as a Christian, some as a father, some as a daddy, some as a volunteer, some as a friend, some as a speaker, some as a banker, some as a brother, some as a supervisor, some as an employee, some as a board member, some as an advisor, some as a mentor, some as an alum, some as a confidant, some as a jerk and yet some will still refer to me as a stranger.  I say to you that I am all of these things and more.  Born in Detroit, MI (as if some other Detroit exists), I was born to Mr. David D. Paulateer and Mrs. Maelin Paulateer.  I am the "youngest middle child" and have 3 siblings, or 6 also depending upon who you ask, but I'll explain that later.  I was formally educated in the Detroit Public School System with Kindergarten at Sherrill Elementary as my first official school experience.    I remember it like it was yesterday, walking into Miss Massey's class, thinking she was the tallest lady I'd ever seen.  I remember there was a girl, Carlotta, who was likely my first official crush after my mom, who welcomed me to the class and implored me not to be worried or afraid.  I've long since lost contact with Carlotta and don't even have the slightest recollection of what her last name was.  Sherrill was 5 blocks away from our home at 8635 Burnette, so we walked to school every day.

    I'm not sure of the rules of writing an "About Me" page, but I figure that if I'll eventually write a book, this is as good a way as any to get it started.  Right?

    Anyway, from Sherrill, I went on to middle school at Ann Arbor Trail(AAT).  Ann Arbor Trail was to me, like a magnet school.  It was not the neighborhood school for me.  That would have been Tappan, where my two older siblings, Lynette Newsome-Knight and Clinton Newsome, went, or Drew Middle School, which I recall, many thought was the better of the two.  I don't recall all of the decisions that went into my admission or even exposure to AAT, which is how we affectionately referred to it, but it was almost 7 miles away and I had to catch the "cheese" to get there.  The "cheese" for those who might not know, is the big yellow school bus.  I suppose we referred to it as ”the cheese” due to the fact that It bore a stunning resemblance to that big block of yellow American cheese that we got from Focus Hope back in the day aka Government Cheese.  There was no missing the bus because that would mean that pops would have to drive me to school, and that was not the most favorable solution.  I met one of my best friends there, and I would still consider Jeff Bowens a friend today.

    After AAT, I went on to Cass Technical High School aka Cass Tech aka CT.  My father claimed to have attended and graduated from Cass Tech, but I have my doubts about that because he would have been in high school from around 1930-1934ish. I simply find it hard to believe that CT enrolled black or African American students at that time. I could be wrong.  At any rate, Cass Tech would be for me even to this day, one of the biggest pride points of my life.  I had little to no hopes of actually getting into Cass Tech but low and behold, I did...and successfully matriculated through!  From there I went on to Grand Valley State University aka GVSU, a place that I grew to and have grown to love even more in my years since my days there.  I'll post more about that later as well!

    I am husband to one wife and father to 12 children and two dogs, a couple of stories for other blog posts later as well.  I consider myself a self-employed individual having had many clients over the years and find myself today with Fifth Third Bank as my biggest client, working to improve the lives of low and moderate-income people through financial empowerment and access to capital strategies.