Obituary Record

Robert E (Sr.) Blobaum
Died on 3/6/2006
Buried in Blair Cemetery

Date of Death: 6 March 2006

Burial: Blair Cemetery, Blair, NE

Findagrave Memorial: 113534079

The Enterprise 10 March 2006

Flat (Veteran)

(Photo)

Robert E. Blobaum, Sr., 77

Robert E. Blobaum, Sr., 77, died Monday, March 6, 2006 at his home in Blair. Funeral services will be 10:30a.m. Saturday, March 11 at First Lutheran Church in Blair. Interment will be in the Blair Cemetery. Visitation will begin at 9 a.m. Friday, March 10, at Campbell-Aman Funeral Home, with a prayer service at 7 p.m.

Robert E. Blobaum, Sr. was born July 31, 1928 on the family farm near Fairbury, to Herman and Anna Blobaum. He farmed with his father before attending college. He graduated from Fairbury Junior College in 1948 and from the University of Nebraska in 1950.

He married Lois Prange on Sept. 10, 1950, and served in the US Army from 1951to 1953.

He founded Great Plains Service in Ashland in 1955, and served as president and chief executive officer of the company until shortly before his death. He purchased Midwest Service and Supply Company in Tekamah in 1957, and served as that company’s president until selling the business in 2005. He was vice president of the Agricultural Ammonia Institute from 1960 to 1962 and was national director of the organization from 1956 until 1964.

Br. Blobaum served as the Washington County Republican Chairman from 1968 until 1972 and again from 1982 until 1984. He served on the Blair School Board from 1968 until 1976 including two years as chairman and also chaired the Stadium Committee during construction of the B.E. Krantz Stadium in Blair. He was a charter member of the Blair Community Schools Foundation and received the Distinguished Service award in 1999. He received the Blair Rotary “Service Above Self” award the same year.

He was a longtime supporter of Dana College, and received the school’s Community Service Award in May 2000.

Other community service included terms on the Crowell Home and Blair Community Hospital Boards of Directors. He was appointed to the State Boundary Commission, the Sixth District Judicial Nominating Commission, and the Department of Environmental Quality Council.

Mr. Blobaum and his family moved to Blair in March 1959 and joined the First Lutheran Church that year. He served on the Church Council from 1966 to 1974 and was church treasurer from 1970 to 1972. He also taught Sunday school for 12 years.

He is survived by his wife Lois; five children and their spouses, Robert, Jr, and Victoria of Morgantown, W. VA., Cindy and Bruce Kempcke of Blair, Joel and Melodee of Lenexa, KS, David and Sara of Scottsdale, AZ, and John and Mari of Omaha; 12 grandchildren, six great-grandchildren; sisters, Esther Meyer and Louise Milius of Fairbury.

He was preceded in death by his brothers Alfred, Werner, and Victor; and sisters, Marie Schultz, Alma Hummel and Martha Powers.

Memorials are suggested to First Lutheran Church.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska. ~~~

Printed in the Washington County Enterprise on 3/10/2006


[BACK]