LCDR Harry W. Bleh, USN (Retired), 91, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, February 8, 2023 in Chesapeake, VA. Harry was born in Cincinnati, OH to the late Carl V. and Christina Bleh. He graduated from Elder High School (1949), Naval School of Health Care Administration (1967) and George Washington University (1970), B.S Government and Business Administration.
LCDR Bleh’s career spanned 20 years in the US Navy Hospital and Medical Service Corps, sailing on the USS Essex, serving in the Korean War and overseeing emergency medical facilities in Vietnam. After retirement, he led ground-breaking health, disability and mental health programs in several executive positions, most notably as the first Executive Director for the Norfolk Community Services Board for 22 years. He also served as Chairman on multiple non-profit boards and at John Wesley College (NC).
A devout Christian, he attended Tidewater Central Nazarene Church for 30 years and later Coastal Virginia Church. He volunteered for 40 years on the Boards of Methodist and Nazarene Churches, as Secretary and Treasurer, was a Sunday School teacher, choir member and soloist with a beautiful tenor voice. Since 1961, Harry was a member of The Gideons International, delivering thousands of Bibles to military and hospital personnel.
Harry is predeceased by E. Marie (Duderstadt) Bleh, married in September 1953. He is also predeceased by nine siblings and a grandson, Jared Coffin. He is survived by 5 adult children, Jeff Bleh (Laurie), Diane Umstead (Joseph), Laura Coffin (Don), T. David Bleh and Tom Bleh; brother Billy Bleh and sisters Chris Roemer (OH), Roslyn Piarulli (VA) and Lucy Feifhaus (KY). He is also survived by 6 grandchildren, Ben Umstead, Rachel McLaughlin, Rebecca Brown, Erin Umstead, Mariellen Rosen and Alyssa Coffin and 7 great grandchildren, Levon and Jolene Brown, Carter and Miles McLaughlin, and Scarlett, Penelope and Vivienne Rosen. Harry was a loving husband, brother, uncle, father, grandfather, and great grandfather. He is known for his dry sense of humor, love of reading, extreme generosity, abiding faith in God, and unconditional service to others. He will be greatly missed by all.
Visitation will be 1-2 pm, Friday, February 17, 2023 at Rosewood Kellum Funeral Home, located at 601 North Witchduck Road, Virginia Beach, Virginia 23462; followed by a Celebration of Life in the Rosewood Chapel at 2 p.m. and a private interment with military honors at Rosewood Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, donations may be offered to The Gideons International at https://www.gideons.org. Please offer fond memories and expressions of sympathy at www.kellumfuneralhome.com for the Bleh family.
