The collection includes correspondence, photographs, and other materials that document the lives of two Grand Rapids, Mich. families. The Laramy family materials are more prominent in the collection.
Maynard Monroe ("MM") Laramy, 1885-1941, was born in Grand Rapids, Mich. He received an 8th grade education and worked as a salesman and factory manager in the furniture industry. Through his involvement in the fiber reed furniture industry, Maynard Laramy was acquainted with Michigan Governor Fred W. Green.
Maynard was married to Henrietta Ellen Laramy (born DeBlonde), 1918-1986. Henrietta was a Grand Rapids native, daughter of Cornelius DeBlonde (1852-1962), an independent teamster, and Jane (Luten DeBlonde (1851-1924), who was born in Netherlands. Henrietta DeBlonde graduated from the Grand Rapids Central High School in 1902 and taught kindergarten in Dowagiac, Mich. in ca. 1908. Maynard and Henrietta Laramy married on February 2, 1910.
Henrietta had two sisters. Ada Mae DeBlonde (1876-1955) was born in Grand Rapids. She trained as a nurse in Chicago and never married. Genevieve DeBlonde (1886-1962) was also born in Grand Rapids. Sje worked as a bookkeeper and secretary in Grand Rapids. She never married.
Maynard and Henrietta's daughter Lorraine, or Tete, as the family called her (1910-1968) received her B.A. from Michigan State University in 1928 and worked as a school teacher in Grand Rapids for most of her life. Lorraine changed her last name to Darling in marriage.
Maynard and Henrietta's son Richard Charles Laramy was born in 1917 in Grand Rapids. He graduated from the Grand Rapids Central High School in 1935 and received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Michigan State University in 1940.
Richard Laramy commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army in June 1940. He served as a 1 st Lieutenant in the 61st Coast Artillery Regiment from June 1940 to January 1946. Between February 1942 and November 1943 Richard Laramy served in Iceland. On July 10, 1942 the 61st Regiment formed two detachments as separate Coast Artillery Gun Battalions, later re-designated 494th and 495th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalions. Richard Laramy served in the 495th Battalion. While in Iceland, in 1942, he met his future wife, Sigurros ("Rosa") Eyjolfsdottir (1918-1986). The couple fell in love but was not allowed by the Army to marry. They have decided to conduct their lives as if they were married. On September 16, 1943 their first son, Richard Charles Laramy Jr. was born.
Between November 1943 and June 1944 Richard Laramy Sr. was in England preparing for D-Day. He landed on Omaha Beach on June 9, 1944. He served in France, Holland, and Belgium between June 1944 and March 1945, and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Richard Laramy Sr. was at Fort Sill, Texas between March and August 1945, preparing for the invasion of Japan.
In November 1945 Rosa Laramy and her son was able to join Richard Laramy Sr. in the U.S. The couple was married on December 1, 1945.
Their son James Edward Laramy was born in Muskegon, Mich. in 1950. He was brought up in Kalamazoo and graduated from Kalamazoo Loy Norrix High School in 1968. James received his B.A. from the University of Michigan in 1972 and his J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law in 1975. James Laramy practiced law from 1975 to 2015 in Chicago, Sacramento, and Kansas City, MO.
