Gregory G. Bloom, age 78 of Iowa City died Thursday, October 16, 2025.
Funeral services will be at 6:30 pm Sunday, October 19th. at Gay & Ciha Funeral and Cremation Service with a time of fellowship to follow.
Greg was born in Muscatine on June 29, 1947. It would have been one of the best days of my life, if only I had been born yet. If you’ve ever had that date wrong, it’s probably because Greg loved to keep everyone guessing. He would convince you the sky was green if he tried.
Greg was the second of five children; all credit to Jacqueline for managing that lively bunch! His older brother Ron was his hero, and Greg followed him everywhere, especially when it came to sports. His younger brothers Chris and John (now reunited with Greg in Heaven), and his “baby” sister Shelly (now Michelle), completed the family.
Greg grew up in Iowa City while his father, Clark, taught at the University of Iowa. He loved to share stories (many, many times) about his childhood there, especially his days as an outstanding athlete. He loved telling stories about their house on Rochester and the alley where he spent hours hitting rocks with a bat.
His life took a turn in 9th grade when his family moved overseas, first to Jordan, then Beirut, and later the Philippines. I’ve always envied those adventures, both the good and the bad.
After a year in Jordan, Greg returned to Iowa City for two years and continued his athletic career. He once showed me the exact spot on a school wall where he hit a ball, years later, he still remembered it perfectly.
He spent his junior and senior years in Beirut, where unforgettable memories were made. One story involved Lady Bird Johnson and Linda Baines “visited” their place at the beach, happily for Greg, next to the lovely ladies from the Follies Berger! And something about a car and a cliff… we don’t talk about that one! The friendships he formed with the ACS Class of 1965 lasted a lifetime.
Greg returned to Iowa and “attended” UNI, though studying wasn’t exactly his thing. After a year, he joined his family in the Philippines. But Uncle Sam had other plans, and Greg enlisted in the Navy, hoping to avoid Vietnam, which didn’t quite work out. I’m forever grateful to the Navy, because it brought us together while he was stationed at Port Hueneme, California.
We met when I refused to go to a “party” with his friends, so we went to Pizza Palace instead. It didn’t take long to know we belonged together. While Greg was in Vietnam, he sent all his poker winnings back to me, his buddies said he’d never see that money again! But that money bought us a beautiful stereo system. Music was always a big part of our lives.
Greg spent five months in Vietnam with the CBs. He managed to build nothing, lose his M16, and never travelled on a Navy ship. When he came home, he took me to Iowa to meet his family. They were warm, welcoming, and made me feel loved from the start.
We married in June 1971 and began our life together. We truly became adults when Heather was born in 1973, and our family was complete when KC arrived in February 1978.
We built a good life in Pasadena, California, and in 1989, we moved back to Iowa. His family embraced me, and I became an Iowan, yes, even a Hawkeye fan (except when they play the Bruins).
Our life had its ups and downs, but we were always “Greg and Nora.” We shared a love for travel and were lucky to take several “trips of a lifetime,” creating memories we’ll always carry in our hearts.
The last two years have been difficult, but with love and family, we remained “Greg and Nora.” You can’t split us up—not even death can separate us. Our souls are forever connected. He knows I’ll join him one day, and we’ll always be True Companions.
Jim Holzaepfel
It is with honor that i can relate that Greg and I were each others very best buddies up and thru 3rd grade at Horace Mann. We lived 2 doors down from each other on Rochester ave and rarely did a day go by that in one way or the other we didn't hook up to hang out(called playing back then). That began on or around the ages of 2-3 on both of our parts and continued on untill the Bloom family moved to the mid east when we were in the fourth grade. Horace Mann school was our stomping grounds thru those 1st years. I remember In kindergarten when we 1st arrived at Horace Mann we were placed in separate rooms the 1st day. I, He, we, both had such crying fits that we'd been separated that Mr Hensly(the school principal) was called in and determined it best to put us in the same room. That effectively was both of our 1st real life traumas as we both recalled to each other later in our lives. Perhaps not such a well known fact regarding Greg was his great athletic talent that never really got put to use much in IC cause his family travelled so much. He and his big brother Ron could pitch a baseball with the best of them and Greg proly would have been a starting pitcher on the hi school team had he been around. If I recall correctly he was a starting basketball player our 7th grade year at Central Junior hi??? I remember talking with Clyde Bean about Greg in later years with Clyde remembering what a naturally gifted athlete Greg was. I could go on and on about ole greg but will end here. if anyone wants to exchange notes with me regarding gregor plz leave me a note. all this in his memory and again with honor jim