RICHARD BLOOM

Richard Otis Bloom, 79, son of Walter and Mamie Graham Bloom, was born Jan. 10, 1926, at East Moline, Ill. He died March 9, 2005.He grew up in the East Moline area, where attended school. In his teenage years during World War II, he plowed victory gardens with his horse and plow for many people in nearby towns.He entered the Army in 1945 and served with the occupational forces in Germany. He was discharged in 1947.He married April Joyce Boecher July 12, 1947, at East Moline, Ill. They were married 57 years.Mr. Bloom worked in construction as well as many years in farming. He also worked for the Rock Island Lines and Union Pacific railroads.After moving to Missouri, he was a Missouri Green Thumb worker at the Houston Senior Center. He retired as a bus driver at the Houston Schools after 16 years. He had been in failing health since his retirement.In 1974, he was baptized as a Jehovah’s Witness and was an ordained minister and elder for the Cabool congregation.His hobbies were fishing and working with his hands.Surviving are his wife; seven children, Sharon Bloom of Mountain Grove, Janis Divers of Maquoketa, Iowa, William Bloom of Mountain View, Susan Lay of Cabool, Mary Jo Hickman of Summersville, Jessica Bloom of Sandown, N.H., and Brandon Bloom of Houston; two sisters, Dorothy Gardner of Ashland, Ore., and Bertha Stanley of Cordova, Ill.; 13 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.Services were March 12 at the Cabool Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses. “