Dick was born in Chicago, IL, on Nov. 3, 1934, the son of Orin Lavelle and Pauline Veronica Terry Bloxam.
He rose above his hardscrabble childhood in southern Illinois to become a notable mathematics educator at the high school and college level, holding graduate degrees from Illinois State University, Northern Illinois University, and Bowdoin College. For 30 years, Dick taught mathematics at Glenbard West High School in Glen Ellyn, IL, and was Department Chair for the last five years of his tenure there.
His love of teaching led him to adjunct positions at the College of DuPage, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and the Brunswick Campus of New Hampshire College. Even after retiring, Dick continued to tutor students in probability and statistics — a favorite of his.
Dick enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1955, becoming a Sergeant in the guided missile artillery division. The next year, while a student at Illinois State, Dick met and married Frances Ronnelle Beyer, the prettiest girl on campus, and their adventures commenced at once. The newlyweds were deployed by the U.S. Army to Vicenza, Italy, sparking a lifelong love of travel and adventure that took the Bloxams all over the world during their 58 years of marriage. During Dick’s sabbatical at Bowdoin, the Bloxams fell in love with the people and landscape of Maine. When Dick retired in 1989, he and Frannie moved to their dream home in Bath.
Dick’s five children remember with fondness their Dad’s wide-ranging “outside” pursuits. He was a lifeguard with a beautiful jackknife dive; he hunted and fished, shot competitive trap and skeet, led his family on epic camping trips, toured the Atlantic seaboard with Frannie on his Honda Goldwing, and as a licensed Coast Guard Merchant Marine Officer he captained the “Angus & Fiona” on sightseeing cruises of the Kennebec River and Casco Bay — with Frannie as “ship’s cat.” He had a boundless interest in places and people of all kinds, and could converse with anyone. Dick was a backroads wanderer who enjoyed getting lost, a lover of classical music, a skilled woodworker, and a passionate tinkerer who once shot a seized-up outboard engine block, in retaliation or because he really thought it might fix the thing.
Dick lives on in the memories of his children, Jenny Bloxam, Peggy Hodges (Kevin), Paula O’Halloran (Jim), Mike Bloxam (Kim Strosnider), and Amy Totten (Mark); as well as his grandchildren, Isaiah and Naomi Day, Emily and Michael Totten, and Zach and Zoe Bloxam.
Visiting hours will be 10 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Aug. 2, 2014, at David E. Desmond & Son Funeral Home, 638 High St., Bath. Services to celebrate Dick’s life will be at noon at the funeral home, and there will be a reception immediately following the funeral, at a location to be announced. Memorial contributions may be made in Dick’s memory to the Bath Area Food Bank, P.O. Box 65, Bath, ME 04530.
To express your thoughts and condolences with the family, please visit www.desmondfuneralhomes.com.
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