Ex-Palatine Twp. clerk remembered as 'an institution'
As the former Palatine Township clerk, Ruth Ellen Blowney of Rolling Meadows was the keeper of the books and records of one of the most populous townships in the country.
Its 36 square miles takes in parts of Palatine, Rolling Meadows, Inverness, Arlington Heights, Hoffman Estates, Barrington, South Barrington and Schaumburg.
Mrs. Blowney originally filled the void left by the 1972 death of Margaret Chapman, but ultimately she was elected to serve two more terms, until 1985. She worked even longer as deputy township clerk for Hanover Township.
Mrs. Blowney passed away Oct. 26, at the age of 86.
“She was an institution,” says Bartlett Mayor Michael Kelly, one of three Hanover Township supervisors that Mrs. Blowney served. “She was the first person people talked to when they came into the office. Nobody could get too upset with her. She had this grandmotherly presence that was very calming on people.”
Mrs. Blowney was a homemaker when she and her husband, Bill, settled in Rolling Meadows with their young family in 1956. However, living next door to one of the city's aldermen and her involvement with the local Republican organization, advanced Mrs. Blowney's growing interest in local government.
“My mother always felt that we were such a small part of Cook County, that we needed a voice,” says her daughter, Mary Anne Adams of Rolling Meadows. “She thought township government filled that role.”
Her job as township clerk, went beyond keeping an accurate record of official meetings and documents. She was in charge of the election process and consequently scheduled election judges and polling places, as well as handled absentee and early voting.
Mike Olszewski, former Hanover Township supervisor, says that Mrs. Blowney played an active role in bringing the Cook County Wellness on Wheels program to the township, and she also worked with PACE schedules.
“She really helped shape township government,” said Olszewski, of South Barrington.
Mrs. Blowney felt so strongly about township government that she became active with larger organizations, including the Township Officials of Cook County and the Township of Officials of Illinois.
Ultimately, she when she retired from her Hanover Township duties, in 2004, at the age of 80.
Mrs. Blowney was preceded in death by her husband and an infant son, Robert. Besides her daughter, she is survived by her sons Patrick (Kathy) Blowney of Marengo and Michael (Elizabeth) Blowney of Arlington Heights; as well as six grandchildren and nine great grandchildren.
Visitation will take place at 3 p.m. Friday until a 6:30 prayer service, both at Meadows Funeral Home, 3615 Kirchoff Road in Rolling Meadows.