Obituary of Robert Blomquist
Robert “Bob” Blomquist passed away on Jan 27, 2022 after a courageous fight with prostate cancer. Bob was born March 31, 1930 in a log cabin on the homestead of Charles Blomquist and Lena Halvorson in Greaney MN. Although his early schooling was in Canden N.J., he returned to MN and graduated from Orr High School in 1948. He earned a BS in Pharmacy in 1953 and a MD degree in 1960 both from the University of Wisconsin. Between pharmacy and medical school, he was a Lieutenant in the army's Medical Service Corp. It was this experience that sparked his interest in medicine.
Bob met and married the love of his life Karen Burgardt early in 1960 in Seattle. He interned at King County Hospital and did his Internal Medicine residency at the University of Washington finishing in 1964. His son Charles was born in 1964 and daughter Joanne in 1966. They lived in American Samoa from 1967 to 1969 where Bob experienced tropical medicine and worked with Samoan Medical Practitioners. Bob and family settled in Portland in 1969, and he joined Kaiser Permanente working there until retirement in 1993. During early retirement Bob served on the Institutional Review Board of the Clinical Research Center for Kaiser.
Activities in his personal life included family, building, fishing, hunting, gardening, ballroom dancing, traveling, and playing bridge with friends. In 1979 he, family and friends built a beach house on the Washington coast. During retirement he remodeled his daughters house in Tacoma, built a new home in Portland, and at age 81 rewired his son’s home. He volunteered with Reach doing repairs to homes of the elderly in need. He loved to garden, feed his birds, care for his orchids, read, and discuss philosophy and politics with nephew Pete Blomquist. He also enjoyed weekly luncheons with 4-6 of his colleagues.
His beautiful life will forever be cherished in the lives of his loving wife, children, grandchildren, and great grandson: Karen Blomquist, Charles Blomquist, Joanne Siegel, Rachel Blomquist Beach, Victoria Siegel, Ashley Siegel, and Atlas Beach; and son-in-law, Todd Siegel, daughter-in-law Georgette Blomquist, and grandson-in-law Tanner Beach.
A celebration of life is planned for later this year.
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