Eldon J. Pluemer of Potosi, WI passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by his loving family, on December 30, 2021. A celebration of life will be held at a later date. An Eldon Pluemer Memorial Fund has been established. The Melby Funeral Home & Crematory, Platteville, is serving the family. Online condolences may be made at www.melbyfh.com.

Eldon was born June 12, 1929 in Tennyson, Wisconsin, to Alphonse and Angela (Meoska) Pluemer. He married his high school sweetheart, Elizabeth (Betty) Blindert on May 23, 1950 at St. Andrew Catholic Church, Tennyson. In May 2021 they celebrated 71 years of marriage. Eldon and Betty raised eight children: Gail (Chuck) Steiner, Pam (Mark) Walsh, Anjie (Troy) Newell, Becky (Jim Hutchins), David, Brian (Stacey), Jerarda/Jody (Mark) Bartels, and Jill (Dave) Lynn.

Eldon graduated from the former St. Andrew Catholic School in 1947. Following his graduation, Eldon started his career at John Deere Dubuque Works, retiring September 30, 1987. Eldon was a very innovative and creative lathe operator. In 1975, he was awarded $18,675, the largest ever John Deere payout for a suggestion to improve production, followed by another $10,000 award in 1983. After Eldon's first award, John Deere limited award payouts to a maximum of $10,000.

Eldon helped his father, Alphonse, tend bar at the Spot Tavern. He sold StarCraft campers, and he and Betty loaded the family of eight children in the station wagon for a summer vacation to South Dakota. The family camped often at the Grant River Park in Potosi. Eldon was one of the first members of the local Mississippi Bluff Riders Snowmobile Club.

Eldon and Betty were avid card players and square dancers. They enjoyed camping, hunting, fishing, snowmobile riding, and boating. Eldon loved woodworking and crafted many clocks for family and donating to auctions, jewelry boxes for his daughters, as well as trains for most of the great-grandchildren, spelling out their names, various cars, trucks and other projects. Eldon designed their home next to the Spot Tavern in Tennyson and shared his plan with others who then built similar homes in the area. He built dressers, an armoire and many other items throughout the home.

Eldon and Betty volunteered countless hours at the Tennyson Ball Diamond, helping prepare the field, and with concessions. Eldon and Betty also volunteered at many church and school events.

Eldon, affectionately called Eldie by friends, took up golfing after retirement and reached every golfer's dream, achieving not one, but two holes in one, one each in Wisconsin and Florida. For many years, Eldon and Betty traveled to the John Deere Village in central Florida, spending several weeks of the winter in the Florida sunshine, rather than Wisconsin's cold and snow. After the JD Village closed, they purchased their own home at Sun Lake Retirement Village in Grand Island, Florida, where they spent approximately six months each year in their home on the Sun Lake Golf Course, enjoying time golfing, playing shuffleboard, biking, and playing cards with friends from all over the country.

Eldon was a devoted Catholic member of St. Andrew-Thomas Parish and consistently sang along with the choir, something he began when he was part of the choir in high school. Eldon was known for his dry wit and his distinctive laugh. Eldon was an avid Badgers and Green Bay Packers fan. Many of our fondest memories were watching games with Dad.

Later in life, Eldon learned the art of cooking and doing laundry to assist Betty due to her arthritis.

Eldon is also survived by 17 grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren, with another expected in January, his sister, Jan Duve, brothers-in-law, Harry, Carl (Dorothea) and Doug Blindert, sister-in-law Ann Klein, and many nieces and nephews. Eldon was preceded in death by infant daughters, JeanAnn and Peggy, his parents, step-mother Mae, brother and sister-in-law George and Marie Pluemer, sister and brother-in-law Joann and Bob Smith, father-in-law Harold Blindert, mother-in-law Bernadette Besler and her husband Herbert, sisters- and brothers-in-law Lucy and Harold Faherty, Bernard, Arnold and Ruth, and Vernon and Carol Blindert.

Betty and the children would like to give special thanks to David for his dedication and tender care of both Eldon and Betty for many months prior to Eldon's passing.

Eldon Pluemer

June 12, 1929 - December 30, 2021

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