After playing baseball with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization in the 1930s, Blanchard William Condill kept swinging a bat for town leagues and teams in Barrington, his home for nearly 70 years. “My first memories were of my dad as an athlete,” said his son Jim. “Barrington had a traveling baseball team back then, in the early 1940s.” Mr. Condill, 89, died Sunday, Jan. 18, in Governors Park of Barrington Nursing Home. Born in Paton, Iowa, he grew up on his family’s farm. He excelled in basketball and baseball and graduated from high school in 1931, his son said. He attended Upper Iowa University in Fayette, Iowa, but left after a year to work on his family’s failing farm. He moved to Barrington in 1936, taking a job unloading train cars for Jefferson Ice Co. For more than 30 years he worked as an installer for his brother James’ company, Ahrens & Condill Heating and Air-Conditioning Co., a Barrington business that is no longer family-owned but still in operation. “A lot of people in Barrington knew him because he was in their basement” installing furnace and air-conditioning components, his son said. Mr. Condill retired in 1976. Mr. Condill married his wife, Fern, in 1937. He climbed ladders and planted trees up until his last year. “He really had a green thumb,” his son said. “His yard was perfect.” In addition to his wife, son and brother, survivors include two sons, Bruce and Charles; a brother, Jesten; a sister, June Fransen; seven grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren. Visitation will be from 3 to 5 p.m. and from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday in the Davenport Family Funeral Home, 149 W. Main St., Barrington. Visitation will resume at 10 a.m. Wednesday, followed by an 11 a.m. service in Salem United Methodist Church, 115 W. Lincoln Ave., Barrington.
