Obituaries
Below are the obituaries for members of the Balarzs family, many coming from public record in Giles County. They help to give us insight into the familial connections between family members and were crucial in finding several family members that we previously had limited information on.
On the left, the obituary for Ruby Kinney Balarzs is shown. This gave us the names of her parents, Sterling and Ellen Kinney as well as her sisters. This became important for putting together the family tree as well as identifying one of the authors of a letter in the collection, her sister Sharon Rose Kinney. This also tells us where she was buried.
On the right, the obituary for Ernest Balarzs is displayed. This showed us his numerous accomplishments during his life, including being a restaurant owner, earning several military medals, and his work with NASA on the space shuttle programs. In addition, it shows us where he was buried and lists his siblings, providing crucial genealogical information.
On the left, we have the obituary for Barbara June, the youngest sister of the Balarzs family. This showed us her children and siblings as well as where she was buried. This and other obituaries helped to establish a timeline for other family members, based on whether they were alive or not according to each obituary.
On the left is the obituary for Edythe Balarzs. This helped to establish where the siblings were living at the time of Edythe's death in 1982.
To the left, we have Bela Balarzs' obituary. We were able to obtain information about his time in the service as well as his familial connections from his obituary. It also tells us where he is buried.
To the right is the obituary of the oldest of the Balarzs siblings, Stephen Balarzs.
Above is the obituary of Cody Balarzs, the grandson and adopted son of Ernest Balarzs. His obituary provided us with confirmation of the adoption as well as his living great aunt, Mary Ellen. This connection allowed us to contact one of the living family members and gain very useful insight.
This is the obituary for the youngest of the Balarzs siblings, Fred Balarzs. Through his obituary, we were able to gain more information about his familial connections for use in the family tree and further research into the Balarzs story.