He was born July 11, 1928 to Lloyd S., Sr. and Esther Balkwill in Evanston, IL, grew up in Elmhurst, IL, and graduated from York Community High School. He and his high school sweetheart, Mary Frances Trantham eloped in 1948 to Charleston, SC. They were married for 63 years and together raised two wonderful children, Denise (Terry Tuminello) and David (Lucinda). They were blessed with one grandson, Sumner. He was a U.S. Navy veteran of WWII and served as an aviation ordnance air crewman aboard a PBM patrol bomber in Squadron VP-MS-5. He was a Life Member of the V.F.W. and a member of the VP-45 association. He attended Elmhurst (IL) College on the G.I. Bill earning his B.A. Degree while working full time and graduated with high honor. He served as an elected Village Trustee in Villa Park, IL, and was President of the Villa Park Community Chest. His business career spanned 40 years of retailing, advertising, sales and sales promotion, most spent with Sears, Roebuck and Company based in Chicago, Los Angeles, Honolulu, and New York. Job assignments took him to nearly every U.S. state, plus Puerto Rico, and to Mexico, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and China. He and Mary Frances retired in 1987 to Palm Harbor, FL, where he obtained a Florida teaching certificate and taught American and world history in the Pinellas County School District. He was president of the Wescott Square Homeowners Association, a Republican Precinct committeeman, vice president of N.A.R.S.E. (National Association of Retired Sears Employees), and a member of Sears Tampa Bay Retiree Club. He was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, and humanitarian. He was an athlete, scholar, and civic activist. In 2005, he and Mary Frances moved to Chandler, AZ to be near their only grandchild. They will have their cremains co-mingled with military honors and final disposition by the United States Navy Burial At Sea Program.
Our deepest condolences to the family and friends of the deceased