William H. Blaeuer, 84

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William “Bill” H. Blaeuer, 84, of Litchfield, died on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021, at 7:30 a.m. at Montgomery Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Taylor Springs due to COVID-19.

Private services will be held and burial will follow at St. Maurice Cemetery in Morrisonville. Toberman-Dean Funeral Home in Coffeen is assisting the family.

Mr. Blaeuer was born Sept. 26, 1936, in Carlinville, to William H. and Velma V. (Niehaus) Blaeuer. He married Lizbeth Ann Grayson on May 22, 1984, in Odessa, FL.

He was a pioneer on development teams that worked with the introduction of semiconductor integrated circuit boards. In the early 1960s, he was involved in the designs of the digital watch, digital calculators and the dollar bill changer. 

After having his weekends annoyingly interrupted to repair the original trial machines of the dollar bill changers, Mr. Blaeuer transferred to the sales side of the business. He continued in sales in the field, living in Hong Kong in the mid 1970s, finally retiring from Cypress Engineering in 1995 as district sales manager.

He served in the Missouri Air Force National Guard as 2nd lieutenant. He was raised in the Catholic faith and was a member of the Knights of Columbus.

Mr. Blaeuer was a lifelong avid St. Louis Cardinal fan. In his younger years, he had a dual engine cabin cruiser boat. Summer weekends were spent cruising the Mississippi River on various trips from St. Louis down to New Orleans and back. He belonged to an international snow ski club, traveling to the Swiss Alps and other skiing locations.

He loved the outdoors and nature. Retiring to North Carolina Smokey Mountains with his wife, he designed his retirement home. There they raised Foundation Quarter horses, invested in real estate and enjoyed the beautiful mountains. 

Upon retirement, Mr. Blaeuer officially put away his business suit and tie, trading it in for jeans and t-shirts, and grew a long mountain man-type beard. One day he found himself surrounded by FBI agents pointing guns at him. He had been mistaken for a fugitive with a long beard hiding in that area of the Smokey Mountains. His wonderful stories and laughter will be missed.

He is survived by his sister, Mary Kay (Mary Howard) Sinclair of Coffeen; niece, Ann (Riet van Ingen) Sinclair of New Berlin; niece-in-law, Christine Sinclair of Litchfield; great-nieces, Alisha (Tyler) Sinclair Heyen of Raymond and Emily (Andrew) Sinclair Reck of Litchfield; and great-great-nieces, Eleanor Heyen and Charlie Reck.

Mr. Blaeuer was preceded in death by his parents; two nephews, David Clark Sinclair and William “Bill” Davis Sinclair; and brother-in-law, James Sinclair.

Memorials may be directed to Holy Family Parish in Litchfield or Paws Care of Montgomery County.

Online condolences to the family may be left at www.basspattondeanfh.com.