Obituary of Sally B. Blomquist

Sally Blomquist If you bought this newspaper from a stack by the register or the top shelf of a display, you may have witnessed the work of Sally Blomquist, who died Sunday, May 5, 2024 in Paramus at age 97. When Mrs. Blomquist's son, David, became editor and publisher of The Jersey Journal, she heard that people are more likely to pick up the paper if they don't have to hunt for it. From that day on, she checked The Journal's placement everywhere she went, encouraging stores to put the paper somewhere more people would see it. She was her son's biggest advocate, and that made her The Journal's advocate, too. She was born Sally Lou Ball on September 18, 1926 in Milwaukee. Her family moved more than a dozen times as her father, an engineer for General Motors, was dispatched to solve problems at factories throughout the Midwest. They were living in East Lansing, Mich. when she graduated from high school and left for the University of Michigan, where she received a bachelor's degree in education in 1948. In 1951, while she was teaching kindergarten in Detroit, she met August W. Blomquist, a financial analyst for Ford Motor Co. They married in 1952 and bought a home in the North Rosedale Park section of Detroit. There she soon became the go-to person for planning neighborhood events. A half-block-long holiday diorama of the three wise men, life-size, with a glowing star atop a 20-foot pine tree? Sure, why not? Dinner for 125 with a working fountain on every table? Not a problem! Her favorite projects, though, were the six-foot rabbits she built from papier-mâché and chicken wire in her classroom each spring. Years later, former students would visit her from high school, clutching pictures of younger selves with a smiling paper bunny. Mrs. Blomquist continued to teach in Detroit after she and her husband moved to the city's western suburbs. Her legendary dinners and bridge games continued, too, amid her award-winning perennial garden and a growing collection of paintings and sculpture. She and her husband remained there for almost 25 years after they retired, but moved to New Jersey when Mr. Blomquist's health declined. After his death in 2017, she lived in an apartment near her son in Hackensack. She was preceded in death by her parents, Byron and "Mimi," and by two older sisters, Mary Smith and Susan Morris. Services will be private. Following cremation, she will be inurned in Christ Episcopal Church, Hackensack. As for memorials, if she could, she would tell you to skip the flowers and buy The Journal again tomorrow – and that would make her son miss her even more. Arrangements by G. Thomas Gentile Funeral Home 397 Union St. • Hackensack • (201) 487-1010 www.gentilefuneralservice.com