The story I’ve been told is that from the moment they met until the day she died, my grandparents were inseparable. Hanging around the same group of friends, they met in high school and dated for a long time before they married in 1940. Adeline Mary Kerkow was 24 and Clarence “Pete” Petrasek was 25 when they married.
Adeline died in 1974 and the locket passed to her daughter, JoAnne Petrasek LeVasseur. JoAnne passed it to me in September 2023. Prior to that day, I didn’t know it existed but when talking with my Aunt Joan (as she goes by) about the love story of her parents, she casually mentioned the locket, retrieved it from her jewelry box and gifted it to me.
The love story of my grandparents is still unclear in my mind, except for the notion that their love language was physical touch. Of course “love languages” weren’t a thing back in their day, but from what I’ve heard, they were quite lovey-dovey with each other. Here’s the story that my aunt relayed (and it’s not the first love story she’s shared with me!):
Pete and Adeline had been married about 15 years and had two children. Pete needed to go to Washington DC for some training related to his occupation with the US Postal Service. Until that time, the two had never been separated for more than the hours in the day he went to work. Upon returning after being away for a week, Adeline and Joan were waiting at the airport gate and when he saw his wife, he grabbed her into a big hug and held on, while quietly becoming weepy. He said to her “I missed you so much. I never want to leave again.” They held hands and smiled all the way to the car.
Sometimes it’s just little snippets of memories that can paint a picture of a relationship. My aunt remembered that scene vividly and it is the foundation for the proclamation that her parents were madly, deeply in love even after 15 years of marriage. When Adeline died from cancer in 1974, Pete was devastated.
I’m not sure when Pete gave Adeline the locket, but maybe it was right after this trip! When he did give it to her, it came in this little felt pocket that I think says “Styled by Bliss”
The locket itself does not have any markings on it that I’ve been able to detect. I was able to remove the photo of Pete to see if there was something under it, and alas there was not. Unfortunately, I have not been able to remove the photo of Adeline to see if there is a jeweler’s mark. A google image search doesn’t return any confident answers. And a search on the term “Styled by Bliss” as a potential tagline hasn’t been helpful either. Frankly, I’m not even sure if that’s what the felt pouch says. According to what I have been able to find, Bliss Brothers Co. was a jewelry manufacturing company founded in New England during the late 1800s and sometimes it is confused with E.A. Bliss, which eventually became The Napier Co.
If you have seen this tagline before or if you have any insights on this item, I’d love to hear from you.
Sources:
“Bliss Brothers Jewelry” WorthPoint. Accessed 27 September 2023. https://www.worthpoint.com/dictionary/p/jewelry/-american/bliss-brothers-jewelry
And I thought love a love story like this only happened in the movies. How sweet <3
Cool story that I never heard before until the day you you got the locket.