Hard-working welder served in Korean War

March 8, 2010

BLADE STAFF DEERFIELD, Mich. - Melvin D. Smotherman, a skilled welder whose craft took him to the Davis-Besse and Fermi nuclear power plants, Toledo's shipyard, and area foundries, died Thursday in his home in Deerfield. Mr. Smotherman, 77, died of mesothelioma, an asbestos-related cancer attributed to his work, daughter Vanda Stauffer said Sunday. He learned his trade while in the Air Force ...