"Some of Kerry's Family" Page

Kerry, though an only child, has a large extended family. He would like to share some
of the family lore and pictures with you. Hope that you enjoy some of these items.
Kerry was moved to add this page because of the untimely death of his father, Earl,
on November 12, 1996. He found a lot of these photographs while going through his
Dad's belongings.

Here are the five Blech brothers, about 1933, in Cleveland, Ohio.
Left to right: Bob, Art, Don, Earl (back, who is Kerry's Dad), and Dick.

This is from about 1932. Kerry's Grandfather, William Smith,
his Mom Ethel, and his Grandmother, Juliana DeToy Smith,
in front of their home in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

St. Thomas, V.I., about 1940: Ethel,
her "Granny" Julie DeToy, and her "Tanta"
Gladys DeToy Woods.

Earl was stationed in St. Thomas while in the U.S. Coast
Guard in the late 1930s. This photo was taken in the capital
of the V.I., Charlotte Amalie, on the island of St. Thomas on
July 20, 1940, left to right: Centiaia, Telfer, Fulcher, Earl Blech, McCarthy.

Kerry's maternal grandparents, c. 1940 at home
in St. Thomas, Juliana DeToy Smith and William Smith.

Ethel brings her fiance home to meet her Mom,
St. Thomas, 1940.

Granny Julie DeToy, St. Thomas, 1940.

Earl and Ethel in Charlotte Amalie, 1941.

Earl and Ethel were married in Charlotte Amalie
on November 7, 1941.

Meanwhile, up in Cleveland, Ohio, Earl's
parents posed for a photo for the newleyweds.
Mary Prevost (or Provost?) Blech and Waldemar Blech,
Kerry's paternal grandparents, about 1941.

Kerry's great-grandfather, in Cleveland
in the 1940s, Delore Prevost (or Provost?).

After the end of World War II but before his military discharge,
Earl was stationed in Hoboken, NJ,where Ethel joined him.
Here, they pose for a photo at Coney Island in 1945.

After moving back to Cleveland, Ethel and Earl had their only child,
Kerry, in 1947. Here they are pictured in their back yard in East
Cleveland sometime in 1948. Kerry still has that cap!

Soon, many of the family moved from Cleveland to the 'burbs.
Waldemar and Mary bought a house in the suburb of Parma and
Ethel and Earl moved next door and Bob and his wife Rita got the
house on the other side. Earl and Ethel celebrate Christmas 1952
at his parents' house.

Again, Christmas 1952: Ken (Art's son), Grandma Mary,
Mary Ann (Bob's daughter, in Grandma's lap), Kerry (in
his Tom Corbett, Space Cadet outfit), Roberta (Bob's daughter),
and Ellen (Bob's daughter).

Chirstmas 1952 in Smith Bay, St. Thomas: Juliana and
William Smith.

At a Blech family picnic about 1953, probably at Shady
Lake Park, near Twinsburg, Ohio: Ellen, Kerry, and Ken.

Possibly that same 1953 picnic, Waldemar and Mary
Blech in their car trunk.

Waldemar Blech receiving an award at work,
probably about 1952. He was a chemist for the
Glidden Paint Company (and he developed the heat
resistant paint that coated the insides of Christmas tree
lightbulbs).

Earl Blech with friend, in Florida, sometime in the 1980s.

Kerry in Bologna Italy, 1986, like father, like son (see
above).

One of Earl and Ethel's big passions was ballroom dancing,
something they did for over 25 years, many times a week.
Here they are shown doing just that, in the mid-1990s. They
can be seen dancing briefly in the public television documentary
"Cleveland Memories," which helps celebrate the bicentennial of
the City of Cleveland. It was produced by Julie Henry for WVIZ,
Cleveland public TV Channel 25.

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