BlairAndCernyFamilie..

THOI'iAS DONALD & HELEN WITT
Thomas l{ittrs parents were Joseph and llary Blackburn l{itt.
l{y fatherrs mother was Frances Btackburn Blair and Tom and
my father were first cousins. Tomrs grandparents were
Thomas and l,lary Clary Blackburn fron Tipperary and County
Clarel Ireland.
Tomrs parents married in April of 1894 and they had tuo sons,
lmbrose Joseph and Thomas Donald. Tqn was born July 19, 1904.
Their parents divorced on llarch 9, l9t4 when the boys were
young 'children. However, their m6thlr always maintiined a
home for thenr in l{ount Pulaski, Illinois where they lived and
attended school.
Tom attended the University of Illinois and at the same time
rrorked as a shoe salesman and night hotel desk clerk to help
pay his expenses wtrile attending school.
He norked for the Mid-Continent 0il Conpany before he was
enployed by Phillips Petroleum Co at Des ltoines, Ioura. In
l93l he was transferred to the newly opened 0ivision of
Phillips in Onaha, Nebraska.
Septenrber 14, 1935 Tonr married
Nebraska where they made thei r
and thoughtful person and very
Helen Anna Tonjes at Pender,
home. Helen is a very likeable
i ntel I ecti ve.
Tonr rrcrked in the Omaha Division in various capacities unti I
Septenrber of 1943 when he purchased a petroleum jobbership in
Pender, Nebraska. He bought a business of Heyne 0il Co. and
in 1946 he added an autorpbile agency selling Pontiacs,
Buicks and GHC trucks. The business was sold in l'lay of 1965.
lf,tile in the oil businesse he was an active menrber of the
Nebraska Petroleum ltlarketers as well as the National Petroleum
ilarketers. He was on the board of directors of the state
association for 6 years and president of it in 1956.
In 1967 he secured his Real Estate Broker and Appraiser
licenses. He was a mernber of the Lewis and Clark Board of
Realtors and served as Treasurer, Secretary, PAC Chairman
and President.