My dad wrote an fantastic obituary, with fantastic photos, that he posted on his blog: http://doggeddoggerel.blogspot.com/2015/03/glenn-franklin-vanblaricum.html
The following is the obituary that was published in the Bureau County Republican, the newspaper of Princeton, Illinois where my grandpa spent a good part of his adult life.
GOLETA, Calif. — Glenn Franklin VanBlaricum of Goleta, Calif., died of pneumonia at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital on Friday, March 13, 2015. He was 94 years old.
Glenn was born on May 18, 1920, on a small farm in Decker Township south of Noble, Ill., to Mary Jane (Mollie) Long VanBlaricum and James VanBlaricum. He was the youngest of their eight children.
Glenn graduated from Noble High School on May 25, 1938. In the fall of 1938 he started college at Eastern Illinois State Teachers College (now Eastern Illinois University) in Charleston, Ill. He majored in physics with a minor in math and chemistry. However, after the first year he saw that he would not have enough money to finish college, so he borrowed $50 to take teaching classes at Eastern in the summer and passed the Illinois Teachers Credential exam in August 1939.
In the school year 1939-1940, he taught first and second grade at Thomas School south of Clay City, Ill., and in 1940-1941 he taught grades first, third, fifth and seventh at Gray School south of Noble, Ill.
In July 1941, he volunteered for the U.S. Army Air Corps and trained as a fighter pilot, receiving his wings and commission as a second lieutenant on July 3, 1942. While on leave, on July 16, 1942, he and Mary Ellen Shearer of Olney, Ill., eloped to St. Charles, Mo., where they were married. Lt. VanBlaricum flew a Bell P-39 Airacobra fighter plane in Tunisia during the North African campaign and served as a base operations officer in Florida later in the war. He earned an Air Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster. He was honorably discharged as a first lieutenant in 1945 but stayed in the Air Force Reserve until 1956.
Glenn taught at Noble Grade School, Noble, Ill., from 1945 to 1948 and at Newton Consolidated School, Newton, Ill., from 1948 to 1951. He then received a Bachelor of Science in Education from Eastern in May of 1952. He later completed a Master of Science in Education in August of 1955, also from Eastern. He served as principal of elementary schools in Toledo, Ill., from 1952 to 1954 and Momence, Ill., from 1954 to 1961. In 1961 he and his family moved to Princeton, Ill. At that time, he took a hiatus from teaching to work for the textbook publisher D.C. Heath and Company. In 1967 he became superintendent and high school principal in Wyanet, Ill., retiring in 1972.
The longest-lived of his generation of the VanBlaricum family, he was predeceased by his parents; his sisters, Effie Mae VanBlaricum Schnell and Wanda Nadine VanBlaricum Patterson; his brothers, William, Edgar Lowell, James Otho, Verle Everett and Elbert Clendus VanBlaricum; and an infant son, Thomas Lynn VanBlaricum.
Glenn is survived by his wife of 72 years, Mary Ellen (Shearer) VanBlaricum of Goleta, Calif.; and his two sons and their families, Glenn F. VanBlaricum Jr. and his wife, Claire Bernadette VanBlaricum, and Michael L. VanBlaricum and his wife, Pamela Calvetti VanBlaricum, all of Santa Barbara, Calif. He was the proud grandfather of three grandchildren, James Robert VanBlaricum of Los Angeles, Calif., Ann Calvetti VanBlaricum Harrer and her husband, Nicholas James Harrer, of Pasadena, Calif., and Susan Michelle VanBlaricum of Cambridge, Mass. His great-grandchildren are Ellen Calvetti Harrer and Calvin Van Harrer of Pasadena, Calif. He is also survived by many nieces and nephews.
Glenn was a 32nd degree Mason, a member of Olney Masonic Lodge No. 140 and a member of American Legion Post No. 30 of Olney, Ill.
Grandpa Van will be missed by all of us. I feel so fortunate that he was able to meet Calvin. It was amazing to watch him light up when he would see Calvin. And Ellie got to get to know him as a small kid. Susie, Jimmy, and I all were able to get to know him throughout our life and I think we all can honestly say we have learned from and been inspired by him. My memories of him all have a strong association to scents, fresh cut grass on a humid Illinois July afternoon, sawdust mixed with motor oil and stain in the garage, my grandma's cooking while he napped in the afternoons...He was strong willed and knew exactly what he wanted (what? no Western dressing at a restaurant in California...). He was a talented craftsmen with wood and made so many toys for his three grandkids as well as so many other kids in Southern Illinois. He even made me (and Susie) a doll house that Ellie uses now. When I told Ellie that Grandpa Van had died she said, "I'm happy that I have the doll house that he made. I will think of him when I play with it." He and my grandma were together since they were young and had some amazing adventures together; everyone could learn from their example. WWII has lost another hero.
Thank you for everything Grandpa Van.
No comments:
Post a Comment