John A. Blaschke

(Dad asked that this obituary be simple in nature, no poetry, no praise. Well, Dad, this is one of those times, one of those very few times, we your children must disobey you. For praise issues naturally from a praiseworthy life.) John Ahrens Blaschke was born on August 29,1920 in Hastings NE, the oldest child of Muriel and Alvin Blaschke. Due to the Depression Era, Dad's family moved around a good deal but Dad finally found a home in Norman, graduating from OU in 1942. Dad was accepted to OU Medical School in the fall of 1942, but due to the war and lack of funds, Dad left and joined the Navy for flight training. Training was slow to start because need for pilots turned out to be less than originally thought. Dad received a great blessing from that delay. While waiting for the Navy, he met Ruth Word. In March 1943, they married, and stayed that way until Mom died March 12, 2017. Dad flew an SC- 1Seahawk from the deck of the heavy cruiser Macon during the war. He loved flying and being on a ship. A catapult flung the Seahawk airborne, with the plane winched back aboard from the sea after it's observation mission. Thankfully, the war ended before Dad was thrust into combat. The flight story we all remember is Dad crashing into the ocean due to what was expected to be water in the fuel lines. The plane flipped upside down, and Dad was forced to get out of his harness, open the cockpit underwater and swim back to the surface. The Seahawk was a floatplane, so Dad hung onto the float and fought the ocean until help arrived. He told us that was the moment he decided perhaps flying was not his future and medicine was. First child Jon was born May 1945 in Bentonville AR. Dad returned from the war shortly thereafter. The Medical School re-admitted Dad, and graduation followed in 1950. During Medical School, Mom and Dad had Dan October 1947, Mike April 1949 and Kris July1951, all at St. Anthony's in Oklahoma City. Dad and Mom chose a very adventurous place for their next stop with Dad accepting an Army internship at Letterman Hospital in San Francisco, CA. For those who knew them, seeking adventure was part of who Mom and Dad were. It should be noted, too, Dad served his country in two uniforms. He fathered sons who at different times managed to wear each. Again, you had to know them, but moving to Dalhart TX and opening a practice with two old Medical School buddies was an adventure, believe us! Neil was born there September 1953 and Bill in April 1956. Dalhart was such a wonderful place for small children to be small, and for Dad to find out how to be a doctor. The older siblings remember it fondly and always will, but Dad's intellectual nature and approach to medicine indicated a change to a specialty was the right thing to do. In the summer of 1956, we moved and Dad joined Oklahoma City's Mc Bride Clinic/Bone & Joint Hospital a few years after that. He practiced rheumatology there until his retirement in 2000. Dad would say each patient he helped was his best day as a doctor, so we will only mention a few of his professional accomplishments. His children still remember the threatening telephone calls at home as Dad led the County Medical Society effort to have EMSA as the sole local emergency provider instead of the chaos of so many competitors with possibly different agendas. Dad then served the Society as its president a few years later. Less well known was his service to the free clinic in the Paseo District which was in the 1960's trying to be Oklahoma City's Haight -Asbury. At the personal level, his children heard for years when our last name was revealed: "Are you Dr. Blaschke's son/daughter? He is such a wonderful physician!" We joked about this happening so often during our childhood, but in truth we wore this mantle with great pride. We still do. Mom and Dad traveled everywhere, adventured always, experienced everything, and to list every port of call here would be to merely make a list and that was never Mom and Dad's point. Instead, they traveled and adventured to see and enjoy God's kingdom, in the world and in themselves. The beginning point for their spiritual travels was the more than sixty years of membership at Crown Heights Christian Church, a place Dad taught adult Sunday School almost literally until his dying days. As was said at Mom's death, Dad and Mom elected together to see what it was like to put their Christianity in to practice, as they mothered, fathered, mentored, fed and housed hundreds of foster children over a period of 30 years. Certainly, few can say they gave more to their faith than Mom and Dad. They both would insist we state how much fun they had as foster parents. Left behind to remember and yes mourn are Dad's children and families; Jon, Shirley, Jon P and Lissa; Dan and Lynn; Mike, Georgene, Jay and Emily; Kris, Michelle and Tom, Alex and Ashley; Erica and Derek Zolner; Bill, Karan and Andrew. Great grandchildren to remember Boomps and the party's we had for him when he hit the century mark in August: Sophia and Nils Blaschke; Emilia Blaschke; Mark and Aaron Manning; Maddox, Liam, Owen and Annabelle Zolner; Harper and Andrew Link; and Mia Wisdom. In addition to the love of his life, Ruth Iles (Word) Blaschke, Dad lost his son Neil and his granddaughter Samantha. He will soon see them all, together with his mother and father, brothers Robert and Neil, sisters Joanne and Gail. Brother Richard of Middleton WI remains with his family. And all Dad's Wisconsin and California nieces, nephews and extended were remembered and loved by Dad. We greet you here, as we greet Mom's nieces Marlene, Betty, Jamie and their children. We will insist on special thanks be said to Dalhart's favorite son, William Patrick Blaschke, who assisted Dad so nobly in his final days. Thank you, Bill. Good Bye Dad. We will, as you requested, have a private service for family only. At some future date, a memorial service open to all will be announced. For those who so desire, please donate to a foster children organization. Mom and Dad would like that.