Emil Blasl

Emil P. Blasl, 88 of Long Beach, CA, passed away on Wednesday, March 27, 2019 at his home in California.

A son, brother, Uncle, Emil lived a simple life, as long as he could find the library and McDonalds/Hardees he was happy.  He was blessed with a great sense of humor, he always made us laugh.  He was easy going, nothing seemed to faze him. Not sure Emil ever watched a clock, seemed like the sun and his tummy kept time for him. He was very smart, school and good grades came natural for him. After completing high school in Baudette, he attended Concordia Collage for a couple years then went onto the U OF M to study to be a pharmacist and play a game he loved, basketball. When he finished school, he headed to Long Beach and never left. He was recognized by the U Of M for being a registered Pharmacist for 50 years. When he retired he studied to be a lawyer, other than the bar examine he achieved his goal. 

Family and friends were important to Emil, every year he came to visit his parents, our family, his buddy in South Dakota, and his best friend LeRoy and his extended family. Always a bit of a mystery when or what time he’d arrive. Sometimes he’d call with a date range, other times he’d call from the bus depot at midnight saying I’m here. If we were out when he arrived, he’d patiently wait for us to get home. You never knew when you’d get the call, I’m here.

As kids for Christmas he’d send us games from the drug store where he worked. Yep in the middle of playing we’d be missing pieces, our mom would laugh and say he got them off the clearance rack. He’d drive our mom a little crazy teaching us some habits she preferred we didn’t learn, example he didn’t like to dirty dishes, so he’d eat his donut over the sink. Harder for us we were quite a bit shorter then him, but he’d pull up a chair to stand on. He carried a bottle of sprite around no need for a glass he’d drink it right out of the bottle. Except for on occasion he and our mom went to A&W and he’d trade the sprite for a bottle of root beer. It wet the whistle. Other than the rare occasion of root beer he had his bottle of sprite, even at his condo we found several empty bottles of sprite.

When visiting Emil had a routine.  When he got up he’d weight himself to see if he could have one or two helpings of Hardee’s har-dee-har-har biscuits and gravy for breakfast and out the door he’d go. He’d spend the morning at Hardee’s drinking coffee, reading the paper or a book and socializing with all the patrons till lunch. He’d grab a quick bite and head for the library. He loved to read: politics, social issues, biographies, magazines, didn’t matter he just loved to read.  Even when he traveled he’d come with a big suitcase with books in it and a separate book bag with more books. Later in the afternoon he’d hear Hardee’s call him and he’d head that way for a small bite to eat. With his routine if you needed to find him just look two places. The library or as he put it the downtown Hardee’s because he was more acquainted with them. We were all sad as Hardee’s began closing, he missed them. But he bounced back and found McDonalds and Cash Wise. He was a happy camper again Cash Wise had biscuit and gravy for breakfast.  The routine altered a bit with location, but he didn’t let it stop him.

Emil had a few trademarks movies were another.  He loved to watch old movies. Westerns were his favorite. When he’d stay with my parents at night he’d pop in a VHS movie, those were his preference. When DVD’s came out and the VHS broke no need to change he bought my parents a new VHS/DVD player, so he could watch his movies.  He would leave movies where ever he stayed so when he returned he could watch them. I know at our house we had at least 50.

 Every now and then he would break from his routine and go for a ride with our parents. A little tough for him when on their drive they’d stop to eat and he didn’t get participation with finding a Hardee’s. On one trip they ate on their way home. They were passing Cheryl’s, so they stopped to say hi. Cheryl and Randy were grilling burgers and offered them some dinner. Emil said oh I’m not hungry but couldn’t pass up a good burger sat down and preceded to eat three large burgers.

To us he was Uncle Emil, to nieces and nephews who couldn’t pronounce his name, he became known as Uncle Nemo.  Emil/Nemo thank you for the laughs, the memories, for being true to yourself , and showing us how, not to allow a changing world to change you. will miss you, rest in peace.

Funeral will be Monday, June 17, 2019 at 1 PM at Martin’s Lutheran Church in Casselton, ND.

Burial will be in the Casselton Cemetery.

West Funeral Home & Life Tribute Center

www.westfuneralhome.com

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