Like that famous pink bunny, Elmo Blum just kept going and going, even as he neared 100.
“Up until a month or so ago, he was living alone, cooking his meals, cutting his grass,” his daughter, Tonda Breeze, said.
Mr. Blum died March 20.
An insurance agency owner by profession, he was probably equally well-known for his community involvement.
For decades, he was a Sunday school teacher, Mason, Rotary Club member and Moolah Shrine member.
“He didn’t do anything briefly,” Tonda said.
Mr. Blum and his twin brother, Elmer, who preceded him in death, were born near Potosi and were 6 when the family moved to Herculaneum, where their father opened Blum’s Grocery. The boys quickly earned a reputation for mischief-making.
Mr. Elmo Blum reminisced about their adventures in a 2013 interview.
“One year, we took this outhouse and carried it about a quarter of a mile and set it over the top of the water fountain at the high school,” he said. “The next morning we were going in to class and Mr. Taylor said, ‘Elmer and Elmo, you come here.’ As we were carrying it back to where it belonged, all the kids leaned out the windows and laughed at us.”
At 13, the twins paid $35 for their first car, a bright red, 1926 Chevrolet.
“My dad was an entrepreneur from childhood,” oldest daughter Debby Campbell said. “He’d take watermelons over to where road workers were working and sell them.”
After graduating from Herculaneum High School in 1941, the twins enlisted in the U.S. Navy as pilot trainees. But, with a surplus of pilots, the Navy encouraged them to transfer to a different program. Mr. Elmo Blum chose the Merchant Marine while his brother chose the Navy – the first time the two were separated.
Mr. Elmo Blum married his high school classmate, Ruth McClanahan, in an impulsive late-night ceremony while he was home on leave.
“They went to the minister’s house and woke him up,” Tonda said. “They were married at 11 p.m., and Dad shipped out the next morning.”
Debby arrived in 1947, Tonda in 1951 and son Tim in 1959. The family lived in Crystal City, where Mr. Blum was an involved father with a bit of a zany streak.
“All our sports, concerts, anything we were in, he and my mother were there,” Tonda said. “If there was a bike laying out in the yard he’d jump on. I distinctly remember him jumping all down the driveway on a pogo stick.”
Mr. Blum opened an MFA Insurance (Now Shelter Insurance) office in the Citizens Bank building in Festus in 1955. He retired in 1990, turning the agency over to his son, the late Tim Blum, in 1990.
Mr. Blum was involved with a number of local organizations.
He was raised to the title of Master Mason in 1946 and served as Worshipful Master of the local lodge in 2007-2008. He was honored as a 75-year Mason in August 2021.
He joined the Rotary Club in 1957 and was the first Rotarian from this area to serve as a district governor. He was a Moolah Shrine member for 50 years, and was active with the Twin City Area Chamber of Commerce, earning its Distinguished Service award in 1986.
He volunteered at the local hospital, helped plan and build walking and bike trails, and served on the Crystal City school board. He was instrumental in establishing the Quad City Senior Center.
Mr. Blum taught his children by example the importance of community service.
“He instilled that in us, from the time we were children, that you do what you can to give back,” Debby said.
Mr. Blum’s faith was central to his life. Tonda said he left a note with instructions, saying, “I don’t want my funeral to be a sad event; I want it to be a celebration, because I know where I’m going.”
He was an active member of several Baptist churches before moving to Good News Community Church south of Festus.
“He was a Sunday School teacher for 76 years,” Tonda said. “Until he went into the hospital, he was still teaching a class at Good News."
Mr. Blum was widowed twice. Ruth died in 1985 from a fall, and Anna May Hyer, whom he met through church, died in 2017.
Mr. Blum never lost his almost childlike sense of joy and fun.
“Dad never thought of himself as old,” Debby said. “He was healthy, vibrant – he was always doing something and he loved it all.”
Shortly before his 90th birthday, he was cleaning out the gutters at his home when his extension ladder abruptly shortened, sending him plunging to the ground, breaking a window and giving him a black eye.
“Two weeks before that, he thought he had a broken rib when he fell over the handlebars of his bicycle,” Debby said. “You just never knew what he’d be up to.”
Mr. Blum had to have emergency gall bladder surgery a few weeks ago and seemed to be recovering when his heart simply gave out.
“He was so healthy all his life, and things just came crashing down at the end,” Debby said. “He coded while being helped in the shower.”
“Dad was talking with a minister recently, who asked him, ‘Do you know how many lives you’ve touched and made a difference in?’ and Dad just smiled,” Tonda said. “He was so humble. I don’t know he’d ever thought about that aspect.”
Debby said her father will be remembered for his compassion and caring.
“When he talked to you, he talked to YOU. He wasn’t making a canned speech. It came from his heart,” she said. “I wish everyone could have known his spirit, his kindness. He had a great life.”
“Life Story,” posted Saturdays on Leader Publications’ website, focuses on one individual’s impact on his or her community.