Melda M. (Monnot) Blink

Melda M. Blink, 97, of Bettendorf, IA, died July, 13, 2019, at Bettendorf Healthcare Center, Bettendorf. 

Services are 11:00 am on Wednesday, July 17, 2019 at Wheelan-Pressly Funeral Home and Crematory, 201 E. 4th Ave., Milan.  Visitation will be one hour prior to service.  Burial services will be at Roselawn Cemetery, Moline, IL.  Memorials may be made to Hospice Compassus. 

Melda was born on January 9, 1922, daughter of Edward and Stella Monnot of Pearson, Wisconsin.  She married William Blink Sr. on September 19, 1942 who served our country during WWII.  During wartime, she lived in Fulton, IL with extended family and worked in a machine shop in Army Depot where she assembled ammunition, rifles, machine guns for war time.  After the war, she and Bill built a home in Milan, IL on Big Island where they raised their family and were avid organic gardeners (before ‘organic’ was fashionable) growing everything imaginable. This even included nurturing some fruit trees, grapes, sunflowers and beehives.  In 1978 Melda and Bill were awarded the City Beautification award by the City of Rock Island for their immaculate gardens. Her hobbies were bee keeping and processing the honey and helping husband Bill turn the grapes they grew into wine.  Her greatest joy in life was taking care of her family. Melda was a homemaker and master cook, spending time outdoors developing her elaborate flowerbeds, birdwatching, crocheting and keeping up with her grand and great-grand children. 

Survivors include her siblings Shirley Ingram (Hollister, WI), Gary (Elaine) (Person, WI), and Sybil (Jerry) of Lily, WI, children William (Sara) Blink Jr., of Davenport and Sharon (Tim) Davis of Vilonia, AR, 5 grandchildren Kurt (Nancy) Fenton of Trevor, WI, Michael (Liz) Fenton of Vista, CA, Jennifer (Darton) Ito of Berkeley, CA, Drs. Ty (Dan) Dunn of Edina, MN, Shawn Blink, of Davenport, and 7 great grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, William in 2004, father Edward and mother Getchell Monnot, and siblings: Gladys (Gauker), Theodore ‘Buster', Gordon ‘Jigs', Beulah (Molle), Barbara (Tveten), and Jack.

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