Ernest "Olaf" Blunsom
Ernest "Olaf" Blunsom
Funeral services for Ernest "Olaf" Blunsom, 92, were held Sept. 21 at the United Methodist Church with Reverend Ora Dailey officiating. Burial followed in the Valley View Cemetery. Olaf died at Community Hospital Sept. 17, 2007.
Olaf was born June 6, 1915 in Darlington, England the son of Reginald and Lillian (Sibson) Blunsom. They moved to Kirkwood, South Africa when he was six and he went to schools in Uitenhage for elementary and high school, and to college at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa where he received a BA Degree in Accounting.
He served in the South African 11th Field Ambulance Army for five years during World War II, where he was captured in Sidireziah and was a POW for eighteen months in Italy. Olaf married Isabella Dunning on Jan. 1, 1949 in Kirkwood, South Africa and they moved to the United States in 1957, to Omaha, Neb. in 1958 and then to Torrington in 1962. He became a naturalized citizen in 1962 by Judge Hathaway but remained a British citizen. He received his CPA in Nebraska where he had the highest scores statewide. He joined an accounting firm from Scottsbluff, Neb. and ran their Torrington branch, which he later bought. He retired in 1985.
Olaf was a tennis singles champion when he was in South Africa. He also liked to swim, read, listen to classical music, and play the piano. Since his retirement he was writing a book on History and International Law. He was a member of tennis clubs, Sons of England and the Quaker Society of Friends in South Africa, and a member of the United Methodist Church and Rotary International where he served as president of the local chapter while Lewis Colyer was District Governor.
Olaf is survived by his wife Isabella of Torrington; a son Reginald Blunsom and his wife Chris of Torrington; four daughters, Carol Riley of Torrington, Pamela Soriano and her husband Paul of Spearfish, S.D., Mary Scott of Colorado Springs, Colo. and Dr. Laurie Blunsom of Fargo, N.D.; a brother David Blunsom of Gauteng, South Africa; fifteen grandchildren; nine great grandchildren; a cousin in England; and numerous nieces and nephews in Canada and South Africa. He was preceded in death by his parents; and two sisters, Alison W. Blunsom, and Edith Goodliff.
Memorials have been established to the Red Cross or the Special Touch Program. Arrangements are under the direction of the Colyer Funeral Home and friends may send condolences to the family at www.colyerfuneralhome.com.