Harold Lloyd BLESIE

BLESIE, ELMER, SWANSON, DEATON, MITCHELL

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 9/6/2008 at 11:19:32

Quad-City Times, The (IA)
October 31, 2005

DEWITT, Iowa - Mr. Harold L. Blesie, 79, of DeWitt, Iowa, died Friday, October 28, 2005, at Genesis Medical Center-West Campus, Davenport. Family and friends may visit 4-8 p.m. Monday, October 31, at Schultz Funeral Home, DeWitt. Funeral services are 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, November 1, at the funeral home, with Rev. Jim Kledis officiating. Interment is in Elmwood Cemetery, DeWitt. Pallbearers will be Doug, Greg, Eric, Nicholas, and Brandon Blesie, Jim and Jerry Pirch, Roger Deaton, and Jim Coryell. Eugene McManus American Legion Post 238 of DeWitt will conduct military rites.

Harold Lloyd Blesie was born November 3, 1925, near Renwick, Iowa, on a farm homesteaded by his paternal grandparents. His parents were the late Henry Gabriel and Marie (Elmer) Blesie. He graduated from Renwick High School in 1944. He served in the Navy during World War II from January 1945 until August 1946. Upon being Honorably Discharged, he attended college and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in business administration from the University of Iowa. Harold married the former Helen H. Swanson on December 18, 1950, in Des Moines, Iowa. She preceded him in death on December 16, 1999. He worked for several Farm Bureau Service Companies in Northwest Iowa and later became office manager for C & J Farm Bureau Service Company in DeWitt until August 1966. At that time, Harold went to work for the Rock Island Arsenal and was promoted to the general accounting branch manager position until retirement in May 1986.

Harold was raised in the Evangelical United Brethren Church in Renwick, Iowa, which later became the United Methodist Church. He was active in church and community affairs, serving as church treasurer and other positions, and was a little league baseball manager and 32nd Degree Mason. Harold enjoyed sports both as a participant and spectator.

Surviving are two sons, Douglas Stephen Blesie and his wife, Kris, Florence, S.C., and Gregory Harold Blesie and his wife, Judy, Spring Hill, Fla.; a brother, Laurence Blesie and his wife, Louise, St. Petersburg, Fla.; two sisters, Ann Blesie Deaton, Des Moines, Iowa, and Roberta "Bette" Blesie Mitchell and her husband, Herbert, Naples, Fla.; four grandchildren, Eric and his wife, Amy, Tonya, Nicholas, and Brandon and his wife, Shauna; a great-granddaughter, Kendall; and a great-grandson, Ethan. In addition to his wife, Harold was preceded in death by his parents and two brothers, Robert "Bob" Blesie, in May 1995, and Edward Blesie in February 2004.