It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of one of our most devoted members in the club family. Joan Bledig was known to many of us as a friend, a fossil enthusiast, and a hard-working collaborator on many ESCONI projects including the most recent Mazon Creek books. She was present at nearly all club meetings, as well as on “warehouse days,” and could be seen on the stage writing up specimen tickets during the ESCONI spring fair.
In addition to her dedicated work for ESCONI, Joan volunteered hundreds of hours of her time for organizations such as the Canal Corridor Association and the Grundy County Historical Society. She served for over a decade as a guest curator of Mazon Creek fossils at the Chicago Academy of Sciences, identifying and cataloging thousands of donated specimens.
Joan got her start with collecting in the 1950s when the strip mines around Wilmington and Morris, Illinois, were active. Looking for fossils became a regular, weekend family activity. As a teenager, she worked closely with Dr. William Beecher at the Chicago Academy of Sciences when it was in Lincoln Park and participated in building the museum’s Carboniferous swamp forest display. Reconnecting with ESCONI 25 years ago reinvigorated her original interest, and this passion seemed to fuel every encounter since.
Whatever Joan set her mind to she did so with expertise and tenacity. Her humor could be biting, and her opinion strong, but one could never question her commitment to any project, large or small. She was a part of the lifeblood of this club and will be dearly missed.
Joan Bledig, Jack Wittry, and Andrew Young working on Mazon Creek fossils at the Chicago Academy of Sciences collections in 2012. Page layouts for the 2012 ESCONI-published Mazon Creek fauna book (for which Joan was a co-editor) are in the background. ![]()
Joan with Rich Rock identifying Mazon Creek fossils at the Chicago Academy of Sciences.
Joan and Rich Rock labeling Mazon Creek fossils for the ESCONI show at the warehouse.
2019 Canal Corridor Association Mazon River field trip - Joan, Marie Angkuw, Rhonda Gates, Keith Robitschek, Rich Holm, Debra Lovely, and Jann Bergsten
Joan, Tom Williams, and Rich Holm at the ESCONI Best Fossil Night in 2016
Joan, Keith Holm, Clay Davis, and Marie Angkuw at Fossil Rock Campgrounds in 2011.
