thedrifter
06-09-08, 11:18 AM
Lives: Marine proved there was life after death
By Steve Landwehr
Staff writer
Everyone's life has a story. In "Lives," we tell some of the stories about North Shore people who have died recently. "Lives" runs Mondays in The Salem News.
DANVERS — Meet Kelley Schevis, dead man walking.
According to his death notice, the 22-year-old Danvers native was one of the 6,825 Americans killed in the Battle of Iwo Jima. It was, by the way, the only engagement during the war in the Pacific in which Marines suffered more casualties than the Japanese.
The death notice said he was survived by his parents, John and Sophia Schevis, but there were also brothers Stephen, John, Daniel and Michael, and sisters Isabel and Ester in mourning.
Schevis loved that obituary, absolutely loved it. He got such a kick out of it he had it laminated and carried it in his wallet the rest of his natural life, which, in reality, lasted another 63 years.
Ironically enough for that errant death notice, he outlived all his siblings. Now, his real obituary can finally be written.
Schevis died Sunday, June 1, at his Danvers home. He was 85.
That card in his wallet may have been a source of lifelong amusement, but the story behind how it came to be written is anything but funny.
To the disapproval of his parents, Schevis enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1944 at the age of 21. His folks owned Schevis Farm, a dairy on River Street across from Sandy Beach in Danversport. It included land on Endicott Street that Sylvania would later buy.
He was the last son working the farm — his brothers were all enlisted — so Mom and Dad weren't happy when Kelley up and joined them.
He was in the third wave of Marines to storm the beach at Iwo Jima on Feb. 19, wading through scores of dead bodies on the way. Of the six Marines in Kelley's squad, he would be the only one to leave the island — the others are buried there.
He was shot in the thigh and buttocks on Feb. 23. That was the day five Marines and a Navy corpsman raised the American flag on Mt. Suribachi, captured on film by photographer Joe Rosenthal with one of the most readily recognized and enduring photos of World War II.
He had been on the blood-soaked island for five days, and in an interview on the 50th anniversary of the battle, Schevis called it "five days of hell."
A fellow Marine who checked Schevis out and told him he'd survive his wounds was shot in the head and killed seconds later.
Like a lot of World War II vets, that's the kind of story Schevis didn't tell until very recent years, his son, Kelley Schevis Jr., said.
A tree grows in Danvers
OK, here's how the defective death notice came about.
Kelley was sent to a hospital in Saipan for treatment of his wounds. After he healed, he was deployed to Pearl Harbor, where he would serve out his enlistment.
Problem was, he left his dog tags behind when he left the hospital, and in what every serviceman will tell you is a typical military snafu, someone found the tags and nobody to go with them, and his name was added to the list of those killed in action on Iwo Jima. The rest, as they say, is history, however inaccurate.
Following the war, Schevis played tight end for the Danvers Townies, a semi-pro football team. He also played for the Twilight League baseball team Danversport fielded at the time.
On Aug. 23, 1953, Schevis married Patricia Morphew. They lived in Beverly for a couple of years, then moved to the Carolyn Drive home in Danvers where he'd spend the rest of his life. He spent 30 years working for the United States Postal Service, delivering mail in the Brimbal Avenue neighborhood in Beverly.
His retirement gave him the opportunity to pursue a unique avocation.
"His favorite passion was painting and wallpapering," Kelley Jr. said. "He loved it, it was relaxing for him."
"They couldn't just sit, either one of them," daughter Elaine LeBoeuf said of her parents. "They had to be doing something."
Schevis was buried in little Annunciation Cemetery on Hobart Street, amidst a host of other former Carolyn Drive neighbors, and where spaces are already reserved for more.
"He was a true 'Port rat," Kelley Jr. said, referring to the nickname Danversport residents proudly go by.
He may not have become the farmhand his parents hoped for, but he never, ever, stopped laboring like one.
"He was a work horse," Kelley Jr. said, and you could hear the admiration in his voice.
Mere days before his death, Schevis was in his son's back yard, in his wheelchair, shovel in hand, screening dirt.
"So we could have good loam," daughter-in-law Julie Schevis said.
The loam is still out there, and it will be put to good use. Kelley Jr. said he's going to have a plaque made commemorating his dad, and buy a tree to go with it.
"We'll use that loam to plant it."
Staff writer Steve Landwehr can be reached at 978-338-2660 or by e-mail at slandwehr@salemnews.com.
Ellie
By Steve Landwehr
Staff writer
Everyone's life has a story. In "Lives," we tell some of the stories about North Shore people who have died recently. "Lives" runs Mondays in The Salem News.
DANVERS — Meet Kelley Schevis, dead man walking.
According to his death notice, the 22-year-old Danvers native was one of the 6,825 Americans killed in the Battle of Iwo Jima. It was, by the way, the only engagement during the war in the Pacific in which Marines suffered more casualties than the Japanese.
The death notice said he was survived by his parents, John and Sophia Schevis, but there were also brothers Stephen, John, Daniel and Michael, and sisters Isabel and Ester in mourning.
Schevis loved that obituary, absolutely loved it. He got such a kick out of it he had it laminated and carried it in his wallet the rest of his natural life, which, in reality, lasted another 63 years.
Ironically enough for that errant death notice, he outlived all his siblings. Now, his real obituary can finally be written.
Schevis died Sunday, June 1, at his Danvers home. He was 85.
That card in his wallet may have been a source of lifelong amusement, but the story behind how it came to be written is anything but funny.
To the disapproval of his parents, Schevis enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1944 at the age of 21. His folks owned Schevis Farm, a dairy on River Street across from Sandy Beach in Danversport. It included land on Endicott Street that Sylvania would later buy.
He was the last son working the farm — his brothers were all enlisted — so Mom and Dad weren't happy when Kelley up and joined them.
He was in the third wave of Marines to storm the beach at Iwo Jima on Feb. 19, wading through scores of dead bodies on the way. Of the six Marines in Kelley's squad, he would be the only one to leave the island — the others are buried there.
He was shot in the thigh and buttocks on Feb. 23. That was the day five Marines and a Navy corpsman raised the American flag on Mt. Suribachi, captured on film by photographer Joe Rosenthal with one of the most readily recognized and enduring photos of World War II.
He had been on the blood-soaked island for five days, and in an interview on the 50th anniversary of the battle, Schevis called it "five days of hell."
A fellow Marine who checked Schevis out and told him he'd survive his wounds was shot in the head and killed seconds later.
Like a lot of World War II vets, that's the kind of story Schevis didn't tell until very recent years, his son, Kelley Schevis Jr., said.
A tree grows in Danvers
OK, here's how the defective death notice came about.
Kelley was sent to a hospital in Saipan for treatment of his wounds. After he healed, he was deployed to Pearl Harbor, where he would serve out his enlistment.
Problem was, he left his dog tags behind when he left the hospital, and in what every serviceman will tell you is a typical military snafu, someone found the tags and nobody to go with them, and his name was added to the list of those killed in action on Iwo Jima. The rest, as they say, is history, however inaccurate.
Following the war, Schevis played tight end for the Danvers Townies, a semi-pro football team. He also played for the Twilight League baseball team Danversport fielded at the time.
On Aug. 23, 1953, Schevis married Patricia Morphew. They lived in Beverly for a couple of years, then moved to the Carolyn Drive home in Danvers where he'd spend the rest of his life. He spent 30 years working for the United States Postal Service, delivering mail in the Brimbal Avenue neighborhood in Beverly.
His retirement gave him the opportunity to pursue a unique avocation.
"His favorite passion was painting and wallpapering," Kelley Jr. said. "He loved it, it was relaxing for him."
"They couldn't just sit, either one of them," daughter Elaine LeBoeuf said of her parents. "They had to be doing something."
Schevis was buried in little Annunciation Cemetery on Hobart Street, amidst a host of other former Carolyn Drive neighbors, and where spaces are already reserved for more.
"He was a true 'Port rat," Kelley Jr. said, referring to the nickname Danversport residents proudly go by.
He may not have become the farmhand his parents hoped for, but he never, ever, stopped laboring like one.
"He was a work horse," Kelley Jr. said, and you could hear the admiration in his voice.
Mere days before his death, Schevis was in his son's back yard, in his wheelchair, shovel in hand, screening dirt.
"So we could have good loam," daughter-in-law Julie Schevis said.
The loam is still out there, and it will be put to good use. Kelley Jr. said he's going to have a plaque made commemorating his dad, and buy a tree to go with it.
"We'll use that loam to plant it."
Staff writer Steve Landwehr can be reached at 978-338-2660 or by e-mail at slandwehr@salemnews.com.
Ellie