Darke County Senior Scribes
Meet Bill & Joan Blaine
By Delbert Blickenstaff, M.D. 

William (Bill) Blaine and Joan are world travelers.  They have visited 41 foreign countries, mostly as a result of their involvement with The Friendship Force International. Bill and Joan became active members of the Dayton chapter in 1990. The purpose of the organization is to foster friendship between peoples of different cultures. 

“A World of Friends is a World of Peace” is the motto of The Friendship Force. Details of exactly how this is accomplished can be found in the book “The Other Side of the Mountain” by Charlene Terrell. However the process can be summarized by stating that groups of ordinary citizens from Dayton, for example, travel to a city in Spain, Madrid, for example, and people from Madrid might travel to San Francisco, for example. They visit in ordinary homes and become friends. This takes a lot of organizing, and the Dayton Chapter may be going to Peru some time next summer. Bill states that his most interesting visit was to Sarajevo in 2003. He was the guest of Jacob Finci, who lived through the war in Croatia and Bosnia, and who saved the lives of many people. 

It’s a wonder that any romance developed between Bill and Joan since their first date in 1950 ended in one of the worst snow storms Dayton had seen in decades. Joan made it home, but Bill had to sleep on the floor of a friend’s house. Their romance did survive and they were married on May 25, 1952. They have five children: Sue, Mike, Carol, Richard, and Beverly. They also have eleven grandchildren and three great grandchildren. 

Bill was born in 1929 and states that the name Blaine is Scotch-Irish. He has three brothers and also twin sisters. To say that Bill worked as a salesman is an understatement. He started working in a Rexall drug store while he was in High School, and continued working in the Rexall Company for 16 years. He speaks highly of Rexall, having worked himself up the ladder of management and supervision. 

In 1969 Bill purchased the U.S. Chemical Company in Greenville, which he owned for 30 years until his retirement. The company sold maintenance supplies. Joan grew up in Dayton and graduated from Roosevelt High School. She is proud of the fact that she is a ten-year breast cancer survivor. They have lived in Ohio, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, and North Carolina. They now live in Chestnut Village at the Brethren Retirement Community, and they still enjoy traveling. 

Delbert Blickenstaff, M.D.