MAJOR-SMOLINSKI | JACK MAJOR

Jack graduated from Solvay (NY) High School in 1955, attended Kent State University for three years and graduated from Syracuse University in 1959. He returned to Kent State as a graduate assistant in the fall of 1959, working as the school's athletic publicity director.

He was a reporter for the Syracuse Herald-Journal (1960-61) and a feature writer and TV editor for the Akron Beacon Journal (1962-68) before moving to Pittsburgh for a short stint in corporate public relations at PPG Industries.

He moved to Providence, RI, in 1969 to work at the Providence Journal. He was the TV editor for several years, then the managing editor-features for more than 20 years before retiring in 2001. He and wife Linda moved to Bluffton, SC, in 2002.

Brief family history:

William Major married Mary Anne O'Neil in Ireland in the 1860s. They moved to the USA, had 10 children, including John W. Major (1870-1940).

In 1893 John W. Major married Rose McLaughlin in Skaneateles, NY. Rose was the daughter of John McLaughlin and his second wife Mary Casey. McLaughlin and his first wife, Mary McGrorry emigrated from Ireland in 1851, settling in Skaneateles, NY, but they moved to Louisville, KY, in 1858. Mary McLaughin and the couple's child, William, died in Kentucky. John returned to Skaneateles in 1868. There he married Mary Casey, also a native of Ireland. They had at least four children, Rose being the second born.

John and Rose Major had six children, including Stanley E. "Buster" Major (1903-1985). In 1929 Buster Major married Helen Smolinski (1908-1998), daughter of Boleslaw Smolinski and Helena Kalinowska (1887-1962). Stanley and Helen Major had two children, John Stanley "Jack" Major and Mary Elizabeth Major Chard (1943- ).

In 1966 Jack Major married Karla Silberman in Broadview Heights, Ohio. They had two children, Jeffrey Stephen Major (1967- ) and Laura Suzanne Major (1969- ). Jack and Karla divorced in 1975. Two years later Jack married Olinda Johnson in North Kingstown, RI. They have a daughter, Meridith Johnson Major (1980- ).

Jack and Olinda Major (with Jenga, a cairn terrier) on their front porch in Bluffton (2003).

Majors and Chards during our 1981 Sandy Pond vacation. In back are Mary Major Chard, husband Fred, Jack Major holding Meridith. In the middle are Laura Major, Olinda Johnson Major and Brian Chard. In front is Danielle Chard. Photo by Jeff Major.

The rest of the family – Jeff Major holds son Jonah, his wife Elyse Press Major has her arms full with son Ethan in a 2003 photo taken in Rhode Island.