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Earl Dean Blair (1920-2013)
Get to know lifelong artist Earl Blair, who proudly served in World War II as a 2nd Lieutenant and Pilot for the Air Force. He worked and lived in several Iowa towns, including Grinnell. Many of his freehand pencil drawings are of residential and commercial properties in Grinnell. All of the drawings were contributed to the Drake Community Library Archives by the Blair family. Explore the different sections of his biography and portfolio below.
Drawings of Grinnell
Drawings of Other Areas
Additional Art Projects
About Earl Blair
Contact Us: Do you have information on a drawing? Do you want to see drawings in-person at Drake Community Library?
On this webpage, we haven’t included all of the drawings contributed by Earl Blair’s family. But each section has searchable index and we encourage you to utilize the indexes to see if there is an address or building you are interested in. Maybe you will find your family home represented!
If you see a name or address that piques your interest, send us an email and set up an appointment with the archivist to look at any of the Earl Blair files.
Buildings of Grinnell
Earl Blair did remarkable drawings of historic buildings, businesses, churches, schools, as well as buildings from Grinnell College’s campus.
Click on the paper icon below to see and use a searchable index of non-residential locations in Grinnell that Earl Blair drew. Use the Ctrl+F shortcut on your keyboard to search by owner name, address, town, state, or search at your leisure. This button opens a PDF on a new tab. Contact us if you’re interested in seeing a specific file.
Drawings of Grinnell
Residential Drawings
Earl Blair captured many beautiful Grinnell homes with his work, including historic homes. The owners of most of these houses, as well as the exteriors of the houses, have changed over time–but many are the same. Can you find a house from your neighborhood?
Click on the paper icon below to see and use a searchable index of non-residential locations in Grinnell that Earl Blair drew. Use the Ctrl+F shortcut on your keyboard to search by owner name, address, town, state, or search at your leisure. This button opens a PDF on a new tab. Contact us if you’re interested in seeing a specific file.
Drawings of Other Areas
Explore Drawings from Various States
Click on the paper icon to the left to see use a searchable index of other locations Earl Blair drew. Use the Ctrl+F shortcut on your keyboard to search by owner name, address, town, state, or search at your leisure. This button opens a PDF on a new tab. Contact us if you’re interested in seeing a specific file.
Additional Art Projects
Earl Blair did several drawings of technology and vehicles unique to Grinnell, notably a depiction of Billy Robinson who was a revolutionary aviator. Robinson died tragically in an accident a couple years after setting the record for longest non-stop flight. He also drew several significant cars and other vehicles of note (including the mythical Free Grinnell Trolley).
Earl Blair did many pencil and marker drawings of popular cartoon characters, primarily characters from comic strips. These characters are mostly still under copyright from their respective publications, but almost all of them with be public domain in the next 2-10 years. You can explore our list and visit the library to see them in person.
Click on this icon to use a searchable index of other cartoons Earl Blair drew. Use the Ctrl+F shortcut on your keyboard to search by name or search at your leisure. This button opens a PDF on a new tab. Contact us if you’re interested in seeing a specific file.
Mayflower Mini Golf
As a fun activity for both the residents and the visiting grandchildren (and great grandchildren), Earl Blair designed and built and 18-hole putt-putt gold course in the basement of one of the Mayflower Buildings.
Legend has it, Earl Blair created murals in the tunnels underneath the Mayflower Community where he and his wife lived later in life. Some of the murals include depictions of copyrighted characters, so they are not pictured, but we encourage you to go and find them for yourself.
“He would transform cinderblock-walled hallways with beautiful murals of all kinds – hand drawn and painted by Earl.” — quote from Blair’s family.
Earl Blair made silhouettes of people’s names, which started as a tradition when his grandchildren were born. Quickly, word spread and people outside of the family started commissioning Earl Blair to create gifts for newborns or weddings.
“Earl Dean Blair”
The first image captures a silhouette of his own name, which was used for the memorial card at his funeral.
Click on the photos to see a higher quality image and zoom in/out.
Click on this icon to see use a searchable index of miscellaneous drawings (such as family crests, golf course, weird inventions) by Earl Blair. Use the Ctrl+F shortcut on your keyboard, or search at your leisure. This button opens a PDF on a new tab. Contact us if you’re interested in seeing a specific file.
About Earl Blair
Earl Blair and Family
Young Earl Blair
Honor Flight for WWII Veterans
Background
Earl Dean Blair (1940-2013) was born in Montana to parents Mark William Blair and Myrtle May née Blair. He was raised in Paton, Iowa and graduated in 1938 from Paton High School. He received 5 months of Air Force college training at Syracuse College.
On November 14, 1942, he married Irene Phyllis Shockey in Chillicothe, Missouri. The couple lived in Jefferson, Iowa, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, and Grinnell, while Earl worked for Allis-Chalmers Farm Equipment as a District Manager for 36 years until his retirement in July of 1981.
Earl and Irene had five children, Sandra (Chuck) Brooke of Grinnell, Jean (Rev. G.W. “Bill”) Wilson of Lakeland, Florida, Jane Gearhart of Conrad, Gary Blair of Johnston, and Mart Blair of Titusville, Florida; ten grandchildren; and fifteen great grandchildren.
He and Irene lived at the Mayflower later in life, where he did various public art projects including art in the tunnels and a mini golf course.
Military Service
Blair received 5 months of Air Force college training at Syracuse College.
He proudly and honorably served during World War II as a 2nd Lieutenant and flew as a Pilot with the 376th Bomb Group in the United States Air Force.
In World War II as a pilot, he flew a bomber plane with 3 others. The crew remained friends and visited each other every year for the rest of their lives.
Later in his life, Earl Blair was invited on an Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. to visit the World War II Memorial with other veterans.
“Art was always a part of his life. It’s just what he did.”
For most of his career, Blair was a mechanic for Allis-Chalmers Farm Equipment. He had a reputation of being a hard worker and being well-liked. For a short time, their family moved outside of Milwaukee where he worked a desk job. His daughter says he hated the job because he wanted to be “out doing” and enjoyed being with people. He took a job as a blockman and got to work with farmers daily.
“When you ask people about Earl, all their stories share this common theme: He loved people, art, and being busy.”
Earl Blair’s art selected projects reflected these themes. For the birth of his grandchildren, he began drawing silhouettes with a person’s name. These became popular, and people would hire him to draw them for their children and family members.
His pencil sketches of houses and buildings were often done as gifts for families and the community, of Grinnell or of other areas. If you ask a family member, the pencil sketches were something they remember him doing. It was a part of him. When asked if he ever used a ruler, his daughter said, “I don’t know, but I never saw a ruler.”
