Howard Joseph Schlereth was born in Columbus, Ohio, on September 7, 1905, the son of Andrew J. and Anna R. Schlereth. After graduating from high school, he joined the United States Navy, serving near China for 4 years. He graduated from Ohio State University in 1930 and soon moved to the Philippines, where he worked for the Standard Oil Company of New York (later the Standard-Vacuum Oil Company and Mobil). In 1933, he married Mary Virginia Hewitt (1908-1989), the daughter of Guy H. and Vivian C. Hewitt of Columbus, Ohio. She joined him in the Philippines in the mid-1930s and they had two children, Howard Hewitt (b. 1936) and Linda (1939-2004). The Schlereth family intended to vacation in the United States in December 1941 but were imprisoned in the Santo Tomas Internment Camp in Manila after the Japanese invasion of the Philippine Islands. They survived the war and returned to the United States in the spring of 1945. Howard J. Schlereth died in Miami Beach, Florida, on August 6, 1996.
From the guide to the Schlereth family collection, 1930-1945, 1941-1944, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)
