HERMAN Blom, the Dutch migrant who worked for years to promote the Uiver story, died in Albury last week without seeing the DC-2 memorial plane’s future secured.
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Mr Blom, 85, died at the Mercy Hospital, 22 months after the death of Geesje, his wife and partner in his projects.
From 1985, the Bloms struggled to make the Uiver story well-known to Australian and international visitors, especially those from their home country.
Queen Beatrice honoured Mr Blom in 1997 by making him an honorary knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau.
The couple and their son Gerard had raised thousands of dollars for a display and garden below the mounted Uiver in the 1980s and 1990s, only to see the plane removed several years ago.
Their dream of creating an Uiver museum failed to get support in the Albury Council, while the commemorative garden they created was demolished for an airport car park, though the plaques remain in storage.
Mr and Mrs Blom were born in the Netherlands and witnessed the Nazi occupation of their country, the killing of many civilians and the destruction of buildings.
They married several years after the war and had two children in the Netherlands, Klasina and Gerard.
A doctor advised the Bloms to move to a warmer climate because of Gerard’s chest infections and they arrived in Bonegilla in 1958.
Mr Blom worked at the Albury Gasworks and Mrs Blom at the Woolworths store in Dean Street.
A second son, Christopher, was born in 1970 and three years later the couple and Christopher moved to South Africa, where Klasina had moved, but returned to Albury in 1977.
The family continues to run their pancake stall at the Sunday Rotary markets in Albury.
Mr Blom is survived by his three children, six grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.
A private funeral was held last week.
