(Dick) Blow

Naples, Florida
Ernest R. ?Dick? Blow, 94, of Naples, Florida, formerly of Moline, Illinois, died Wednesday, January 26, 2011, in Vitas Hospice at Physicians Regional Hospital, Naples.
Visitation will be 10:15 a.m. Saturday, January 29, 2011, at First Congregational Church, Naples, followed by a funeral service at 11 a.m. Saturday. Private burial will be in Moline Memorial Park, Moline. Memorials may be made to Salvation Army, First Congregational Church in Naples or Moline, or a favorite charity. Trimble Funeral and Cremation Center, Moline, is entrusted with arrangements.
Ernest Richard Blow was born April 5, 1916, to Ezekial Richard and Edith May Correll Blow in Whitby, Ontario, Canada, where Dick attended school and graduated from Whitby High School. He joined General Motors of Canada, Oshawa, Ontario, and co-opted with General Motors Institute of Technology (now Kettering University) in Flint, Michigan as an Industrial Engineering student, graduating in 1939. He then joined Hayes Steel Company of Canada (now Hayes Dana) and helped them set up their manufacturing lines for World War II equipment.
He and Merle Farrier, whom he met at G.M. Tech, were married in 1941. In 1946 he joined Fleet Aircraft of Canada, but left within a year when it became obvious that the overseas airmen were no longer interested in planes, but wanted a stable life of jobs, homes, family life and education. At this time, Merle and Dick started their own family and produced four baby boomer daughters.
In 1947 he gained a position in charge of Industrial Engineering at John Deere Welland Works, becoming Plant Manager in 1955. He was transferred to Moline, Illinois in 1961, as Manager of Plow Works. Subsequently, he was made Director of Manufacture over Mexico, Argentina, South Africa and Australia, then Horicon. Dubuque, Davenport and Planter Works. He retired in 1980 as Vice President of the Industrial Equipment Division. After retirement, he and Merle divided their time between Naples, Florida, and Moline, and he had more time to devote to his golf game which he enjoyed. All his life he maintained his love for his family and Deere and Company.
Survivers include his wife; daughters and sons-in-law, Linda and Kenneth Klabunde of Manhattan, Kansas, Susan and William Daly of Friendswood, Texas, Nancy and Gale Klett of Oneida, Wisconsin, and Debra and Michael Jurgensen of Naperville, Illinois; grandchildren and their spouses, Sara and Daryl Huter, John Klabunde, David Klabunde, Richard and Shelley Daly, Cara and David McGarry, Stephanie and Matthew Barnes, Bryan Klett, Laura and Michael Dunlap, Lindsay Jurgensen, and Thomas Jurgensen; and great-grandchildren: Erik and Tyler Huter, Caitlynn and Addyson McGarry, Payton Daly, and Mitchell and Dominic Dunlap.
Dick?s family invites friends to share stories and condolences and light a candle in his memory at www.TrimbleFuneralHomes.com.