Obituary of Myrtle Bladh

Myrtle Ada O'Steen Bladh, a kind and gentle lady who lived her faith by the credo "Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference", departed this life June 8th, 2012, in her 95th year. She was born October 9, 1917 in Tomlinson, Clinch County, Georgia, to Walter Lott O'Steen and Nezzie Mae Gunter. Myrtle was raised and educated in several small towns in northern Florida as her family moved with her father's business. A 1936 graduate of Jasper High School, Myrtle attended South Georgia Business College before employment as a private secretary and office worker in several settings including an insurance company before and during World War II. Myrtle met Herbert (Herb) Bladh of Chicago, Illinois in Valdosta, Georgia at the home of her Aunt Elma and Uncle Clarence Wise, and married him at First Baptist Church in May 1940. Myrtle lived and worked in Chicago while Herb served as a Marine in the South Pacific theater of World War II. After the war, the pair lived in Chicago briefly until the arrival of their first son. A resident of Cincinnati, Ohio since 1948, Mrs. Bladh devoted most of her energy and loving guidance to maintaining a welcoming home in Indian Hill and to raising three sons and their ever-present pets, while encouraging their attention to education and various extracurricular endeavors. Concurrently, Myrtle supported her husband's career as an engineer and later an executive of Nutone Incorporated, a local manufacturer of residential built-in electrical consumer products. Myrtle was active in family-oriented community organizations like the Cub Scouts, PTA, the Indian Hill Women's Club, and the Indian Hill Pool Club. For the past 26 years, she enthusiastically became a loving grandmother of Kelsey and Kirsten. An active founding member and former Sunday school teacher at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Kenwood since 1955, Mrs. Bladh, was preceded in death in 2005 by her beloved husband of sixty five years, Herb. Myrtle is survived by son Kenneth and wife Katherine of Springfield, Ohio, son Wayne and life partner Billy Halsted of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and son Glenn and wife Carol of Cincinnati, two grandchildren, Kelsey and Kirsten, and several nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews. Myrtle was also preceded in death by her beloved mother, father, sister Chloe, and brother Dolvin. Friends are invited to visit with her family on Friday, June 15th at 10AM until the time of funeral service 11AM at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 7701 Kenwood Rd. (45236). Interment will follow at Rest Haven Memorial Park. The family suggests that memorials may be made to "Hospice of Cincinnati", PO Box 633597, Cincinnati, OH (45263) or "Save The Animals Foundation", P.O. Box 9356, Cincinnati, Ohio 45209. ThomasJustinMemorial.com.