George H. Blair, Jr. age 64, of Upper
Deerfield Township died Saturday evening, January 7, 2006 at his home.
He had been in declining health for the past seven months.
Born in Bridgeton, the son of the
late George and Margaret Kandle Blair he was the beloved husband of Joan
Spear Blair.
George grew up in the Woodruff area
and was a lifetime member of the Woodruff United Methodist Church. He
attended school in Upper Deerfield Township, was a 4-H and FFA member
and graduated from Bridgeton High School in 1959. He received an
Associate of Science Degree in Electronic and Electrical Technology from
Spring Garden Institute in 1963.
He served six years with the National
Guard and was employed with IBM as a customer engineer retiring in 1993
after 30 years of service. Along with his wife of 40 years, he raised
and showed quarter horses and owned and operated Blair’s Nursery and
Greenhouses in Upper Deerfield.
In his retirement he pursued his love
of flying hot air balloons and was often seen aloft in the Woodruff area
for the past twenty-one years, logging 650 hours in the air. His first
balloon, “Pot of Gold” was home-built with the initial flight in July
1984. He and his family and friends flew numerous flights in his
additional rainbow balloons, “Running Rainbow” and “Finnigan”. He was a
member of the Great Eastern Balloon Association having served on the
board and participating in their Hare and Hound Balloon Races, winning
top honors in 2003.
In addition to his wife Joan, he is
survived by their son, Christopher of England; two sisters, Martha
Hubschmidt and her husband John of Hopewell Township and Mary Anne Fry
and her husband Dick of Ambler, PA; three brothers, John Clarence and
his wife Sandy of Bridgeton, Richard Armond and his wife Bobbie of
Pittsgrove and Delbert Russell and his wife Janet of Upper Deerfield
Township; his wife’s three sisters, Phyllis Atkinson of Pittsgrove,
Jeanne Vichosky of Aurora, CO and Nancy Pettit of Florence, CO; five
nieces, eight nephews, fourteen grandnieces and sixteen grandnephews.
Funeral services will be held at the
PADGETT FUNERAL HOME, 1107 State Highway # 77, Upper Deerfield Township
on Saturday, January 14th at 11 a.m.
Return to Main Obituary Index
or
Return to January Obituary Index
