Lakewood Lore

Lifelong resident refuses to let illness get him down

Perhaps you’ve seen him in the past -- a small Lakewood man walking laboriously on crutches that held up two limp legs.

He may have been carrying books to or from the library, or shopping along Detroit Avenue.

If you never met him, he is David Blouch, a lifelong resident of our city and a matchless symbol of courage.

If you missed seeing him lately, it’s because he has been mostly confined to his home, recovering from four operations since 1994.

Blouch, 51, whose name rhymes with Dow (as in Dow Chemical) was born with spina bifida, a congenital separation of the spinal column that rendered him forever unable to stand. Then, 1½ years ago, a fall caused an infection that made it necessary to amputate his right arm and shoulder.

“The main thing about Dave is that he is courageous and never depressed or given to self-pity,” said his pastor, the Rev. Warren Campbell-Gaston of Lakewood’s Cove United Methodist Church.

“Just before the operation to remove Dave’s right arm, the doctor, carrying a clipboard, brought a release into the hospital room for Dave to sign.

“The doctor asked him if he were left-handed. ‘No,’ replied Dave, ‘but I’m going to have to be, so I might as well start now.’" Then, Dave bravely signed the slip of paper with his left hand.”

While taking post-operative therapy, Dave even learned how to draw with his left hand. Today, 16 of his drawings, all done with crayon, are on display in the narthex of Cove Church.

They depict scenes in natural settings, some tying in with Dave’s longtime hobby, which is local history.

The oldest tree in Lakewood -- a white oak on a tree lawn on the west side of Summit Avenue -- appears in a few of his renderings. Dave lived diagonally across the street from the big-girthed tree for 37 years; that is, until he and his mother, Dorothy Blouch, moved to a more convenient one-floor dwelling on nearby Virginia Avenue last fall.

On Summit he was known lovingly by the neighborhood’s children as the “Bubblegum Man,” because he treated them with gifts of gum.

History-minded Dave also is interested in researching several streams that, at one time, flowed through the heart of Lakewood. Furthermore, he has learned of caves that once were in the area of today’s Winton Place. During the last century, he believes, they served to hide southern slaves as part of an underground railroad escape route to Canada.

Above Dave’s bed hangs a Civil War sword that belonged to his great-great grandfather, a lieutenant in the Union Army. In a corner of the room stands a muzzle-loader rifle bought many years ago by Dave’s father, Walter Blouch, who died in 1988.

A more recent bedroom companion is his 7-month-old dog Sunny.

During the past 14 months of being bedridden most of the time, Dave keeps abreast of current events by reading magazines and newspapers. On TV, he enjoys quiz shows and sports and country western dance programs.

“My goal is to keep having faith and to lead the most productive and fulfilling life that I can, no matter what the adversities,” Dave said.

Dave graduated from Lakewood High School in 1961. Besides his mother, he has a brother, Gerald Blouch, who lives in Westlake and is an executive with Invacare Corp., and a sister, Julie Frazier, who is a nurse in Michigan.

Dave’s grandmother, the late Adelaide Blouch, was a Lakewood school teacher.

Those other operations that Dave underwent in recent years include a colostomy, a gall bladder removal, and surgery for bed sores. He was so ill that, for months, his memory came and went in driblets.

“But he never complained,” Campbell-Gaston said. “I’ve heard people with hangnails complain more.

“He continued to have a wonderful, upbeat outlook on life that transforms into an inspiration for others. ‘You may think I’m coming over to cheer you up,’ I’ve often told him, ‘but I’m really coming over for me.’”

Lakewood’s Kathleen Schroeder, 86, a member of Cove Church for 41 years, remembers Dave as a child, when his father used to carry him to Sunday services.

“He is Lakewood’s unsung hero,” she said. “Though never on a battlefield, he has fought the greatest battle of anyone.”

Mildred Williams, church treasurer, praises him for his “gumption and fortitude.”

“Once he gets his mind to do something, he doesn’t give up,” she added. “And he’s loved by everyone.”

Others similarly ill-fated might sometimes be angry and resentful, but not Dave, friends say. Instead, he quietly and steadfastly plays the hand that was dealt him as best as he can.

Though the adjectives most often used to describe him are “brave and courageous,” he qualifies for more. There is a still greater word even better suited. It is valiant.

This article by Dan Chabek appeared in the Lakewood Sun Post March 28, 1996. Reprinted with permission.

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