On January 31, 1915, North Royalton was not quite 100 years old when a future North Royalton resident was born to Suzanna and Paul Demian in the Tremont area of Cleveland. They named their new addition, Emma Blanche Demian. Tremont at that time was positively cosmopolitan. Emma’s dad owned a corner meat and grocery store and later did furniture repair and refinishing for Cleveland’s high-end furniture stores. Emma’s mom raised Emma and her three sisters, Ellen, Elsie, and Selma. Emma recalls, “My mom made every meal from scratch and sewed all our clothes! Our parents gave us a happy youth.” Emma graduated from Lincoln High School in Cleveland. She took the bus each day to her job as a bookkeeper for an insurance company in downtown Cleveland. She got her hair done each Friday at the beauty shop next to work.
The Demian family was an active member of the American Slovak Sokol Camp on Royalwood Road in Broadview Heights. They came out North Royalton way frequently to go to the campground. Emma speaks fluent Slovak and still enjoys eating delicious Slovak pastries.
At a friend’s wedding in 1940, a handsome young man walked over to her and asked, “Can I have the pleasure of sitting this dance out with you?” He said he couldn’t dance and wanted Emma to teach him, but she told him she couldn’t teach him in just one night! That is how Emma met Ed Kmet, and they were married November 20, 1941. “We were married on Thanksgiving Day so that we could go to that ‘state up north’ two days later to watch a football game. Ed graduated from the University of Michigan and they were playing Ohio State.” Underdog Ohio State and their rookie coach Paul Brown battled the Michigan Wolverines to a 20-20 tie. “That’s the way we spent our honeymoon.”
Ed and Emma Kmet moved to North Royalton with their three children, Mary Louise, Edward, and Emmy in 1953. Emma says, “Our street was paved with mud. There were woods in our backyard where the kids would play, and the family would hold picnics there often.” Eddie Kmet remembers, “Our mom was an avid gardener. She planted 150 daffodil bulbs on the edge of the woods because the deer don’t eat them.” Emma was a devoted member and president of the North Royalton Garden Club for many years. Her husband Ed was one of the directors of Parma Hospital and ran for mayor of North Royalton in 1965.
Besides sewing, gardening, quilting, and baking delicate Slovak pastries, Emma traveled and collected, so many souvenirs that her cousin Vera remarked, “Your home is like a museum.” Emma still has a zest for life although she has slowed the pace a bit.
For her 107th birthday, family and friends gathered to celebrate Emma’s life well lived. “I attribute my longevity to being interested in the lives of other people, not just my own. I just loved everyday as it came.” Her daughter Emmy says that, “Mom always says good bye with, ‘God Bless you and I love you.’” Debbie Voldrich, a cousin said, “At 107, Emma is such a vibrant and wise person to have in our family. She is always so easy to sit down and talk to.” Her niece, Suzanne Young, remembered that she was very sad when her own mom died but, “sitting around Aunt Emma’s kitchen table just talking, and drinking Margaritas was a big help.” Susan Lionti says, “I have been friends with Emma for seven years. She is truly an inspiration and blessing. She’s part of my family.”
Happy 107th Birthday, Emma.
By LINDA KWARCIANY
Contributing Writer