Lansing 11-year-old and 85-year-old neighbor team up on card line

LANSING, Mich. Fifth grader Riley Haughey draws animals at her kitchen table with a tackle box of markers, and 85-year-old Tony Klain prints the finished artwork onto greeting cards from his home office. The pair, who became friends six years ago when the Haugheys moved in next door, sell the cards to help pay for Riley's dance classes.

Riley, 11, calls her drawings Riley's Critters. Each one goes on a card. "I just really like the close up of looking at how markers go onto the paper. It kind of is like magic for me," Riley said. When a card comes off the printer, she gives it a nod: "It looks good."

Klain uploads the drawings and cleans up imperfections before printing. He keeps Riley's brush strokes and her signature paw print in the shape of a heart intact. "I don't like to change what she's done," Klain said. One card in progress at his desk features a squirrel he calls Cherry.

Klain has no grandchildren of his own. Riley's mother, Whitney Haughey, said the family wanted an affordable way to turn Riley's art into cards. "He was like, I can do it," Whitney said of Klain's offer. "He's so kind," she added.

The printing work also connects Klain to his late wife, Phoebe, who made similar drawings. After she died, he found journals filled with her artwork. He taught himself Photoshop by scanning her sketches and assembling them into calendars, one drawing for each month. "My wife did the same thing and so that's kind of cool," Klain said.

Klain said the card project lifts his spirits. "Makes my day every time I do it," he said.