Mary Karin Blohn

Mary Karin Ungrodt Blohn December 17, 1930 - November 23, 2020 Mary passed away peacefully with family in attendance following an extended illness. She was born to Armin Luther Ungrodt and Corabelle Blake Ungrodt in Chicago, Illinois on December 17, 1930. Mary spent her childhood in Downers Grove Illinois, graduating from high school there in 1948. She attended Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa and the Gregg Business College in Chicago Illinois. During high school and college summers she worked at the Jewel Tea Company grocery store, a bakery, and then two or three summers as a reservation clerk for the Burlington Railroad in Chicago. She was very lucky as the job paid the same for a lowly summer girl as it did to a decades-long veteran of the job. Her father couldn’t believe what she was paid! Her favorite part of the job was helping travelers book passage west, trips to Glacier National Park or Portland Oregon on the Empire Builder caught her imagination. After business school she worked at an advertising agency on Michigan Avenue, then for a brokerage firm on LaSalle Street. In her early 20s, tired of living at home and the daily commute to Chicago, she decided to move, boarding the Empire Builder and becoming one of those passengers that she’d envied heading west to Portland. She lived with her aunt and uncle Sibyl and Ralph Ungrodt in Albany Oregon for a time and worked for Mountain States Power Company (now Pacific Power) with a long-term plan of moving to San Francisco. However, a chance meeting at an Albany theater group resulted in meeting Malcolm (Mac) Blohn, their budding relationship started that evening with multiple people introducing them to each other. Giving in to obvious peer pressure, they began dating and in 1954 were married in Albany Oregon. Due to his employment with the First National Bank (now Wells Fargo) they were transferred several times, living in Albany, Ashland, Portland, Hillsboro, Silverton, and Keizer, making many lifelong friends in all these places. Mary was a longtime member of the First United Methodist Church in Salem and in her later years attended Keizer Christian Church. She enjoyed her friends at the church, plus travel (especially around Oregon), camping, reading, music, bridge, correspondence with many friends and acquaintances, church activities, and family times with children and grandchildren. Mary is survived by children Pamela Falcioni (Michael), David Blohn (Susan), and grandsons Kevin Blohn, Jacob Blohn, and Sam Blohn, and brother William Ungrodt (Sherry) along with several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband of 52 years, Malcolm Blohn, her son-in-law Michael Falcioni, and her brother, John Ungrodt. A private interment will be held at Willamette Memorial Cemetery in Albany Oregon. Donations in Mary’s memory can be made to Union Gospel Mission, PO Box 431 Salem OR 97308-0431