William S. Blalock's Obituary
William Saunders “Bill” Blalock, 87, of Decatur, IL passed away October 28, 2020 at Decatur Memorial Hospital.
Bill was born to William J. and Mary L. Blalock in Winston-Salem NC. He grew up in Greensboro where he achieved Eagle Scout and later graduated from Curry High School. He was attending North Carolina State when he met Mary E Delbridge whom he married on June 12, 1955 in Spring Hope, NC. He graduated from NC State in 1955 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. He was a member of the SAE fraternity.
Bill and Mary moved to Detroit, MI and while working at Chrysler Corporation he obtained an MBA and his Masters degree in Automotive Engineering at Chrysler Institute before joining Marvel-Schebler in Decatur, IL as an endurance test engineer. He became assistant chief engineer of fuel injection and was promoted to chief engineer of fuel metering at Marvel-Schebler Products Division of Borg-Warner Corp. Ultimately, he became President of the Automotive Components Group of Borg-Warner and then Transportation Group Executive Vice-President of the Automotive Division. He was a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers. In 1988 he bought Kopetz Mfg. Inc. of Decatur, IL which he owned and operated until 2008.
His interests and hobbies included reading, golf, collecting cars, hunting and skeet shooting. He introduced his son Jeff to skeet when he was ten. They traveled together to tournaments all over the country. He said “There’s nobody I’d rather have beat me.”
He served on several boards including Millikin National Bank, Millikin University, Decatur Country Club, and the Decatur Boy Scouts of America, Lincoln Trails Council. He was active in the Metro Decatur Chamber of Commerce and involved with SCORE at Millikin University. He served as president of the Decatur Gun Club and was active in Ducks Unlimited.
Bill is survived by his wife, Mary of 65 years, his children William J. “Jeff” Blalock and Kimberly Ann “Kim” Carmona, his grandson Nick Saldivar and his wife Wendy and their children Ruby and Nicholas. He is also survived by his sister Barbara “Babs” Hall.
We would like to thank doctors: Alderman, Gilman, Verma, Dilorenzo, Minnaganti, Naseer and staff in the 4600 unit of intensive care for their dedication and care; also, Rev. Mike Wakeland and Dr. Goetter.
A private family service will be held at Graceland/Fairlawn. Condolences and memories may be shared with the family of the at www.gracelandfairlawn.com.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the charity of your choice.
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