James Bottomley Bleyer passed peacefully from his earthly life at his home on Monday, January 6, 2025. A fiercely devout Catholic, fittingly, his personal Easter was on Epiphany, the 12th (last) day of Christmas.
Born October 5, 1928, Jim was named in homage to “Sunny Jim” James Bottomley, first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals, who gained the admiration of Albert Bleyer, Jim’s father, after Bottomley spoke to the crowd at an expedition game with Carterville community baseball players which Albert had arranged.
Jim graduated from Carterville High School in 1946. He enlisted in the Army, serving twenty-two months non-combat during the last years of World War II. He attended Southern Illinois University, graduating in three years. At long last, he attended law school at Notre Dame, the culmination of a dream that began with an academic catalog ordered from the University when he was just six years old. He was awarded the Hoynes Prize, given to the graduating law class member who has the best record in scholarship, application, deportment, and achievement. But Jim considered his proudest achievement while at Notre Dame to be his deep friendship with Father John Cavanaugh, former President of the University.
He began his legal career in 1954 at the law firm of Franklin and Garrison, leaving in 1966 to pursue the law as a sole practitioner. In 1976, he was inducted as a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, an exclusive national organization comprised of lawyers with exceptional courtroom acumen. He formed Bleyer and Bleyer with his nephew Brad in 1984, and later welcomed son Joe, daughter Mary Margaret, nephew Rocky, and great-nephew Jonathan to the firm. His granddaughter, Jennifer, worked at the firm while in law school. He received the Illinois State Bar Association Laureate Award, the highest award honoring those deemed to exemplify the highest ideals of the profession. Jim was on the Character and Fitness Committee for the Illinois Supreme Court and enjoyed years of interviewing young attorneys prior to their admission to the Bar. Jim continued practicing law and trying cases until age 92 and was an active member of the Illinois Bar until his death. During his seventy-year career, he earned the highest recognition possible in the legal field for his professionalism and ethics and had a lasting impact on the law, having argued several seminal cases before the Illinois Supreme Court. He was one of those rare individuals blessed to have pursued a profession for which he was superbly suited.
Jim was a proud member of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church and served as a Trustee. He was a charter member of the Knights of Columbus in Marion. In 2007, he was awarded the Marion Area Chamber of Commerce Lifetime Achievement Award, an accolade he was immensely gratified and honored to receive.
His most ardent love, aside from his family, was the University of Notre Dame – especially its sports. It is comforting to know that he can once again see and hear his adored Irish on the playing field, and he is no doubt vying to sit at the right hand of God to orchestrate plays for the upcoming bowl game(s).
Jim is now reunited in death with his beloved wife of 57 years, Eileen, and their daughter, Teresa; his parents, Albert and Margaret (Tregoning) Bleyer; and his brothers, sisters-in-law and nephews, Bill and Dorothy (Rushing) Bleyer and son Eric, Frank and Lita (LeVan) and son Tony, and Tom, Tom’s son David and wife O’Mira.
He is survived by his children, Mary Margaret (Bleyer) Foradora and husband, the Honorable John H. Foradora, Brockway, PA; John Cavanaugh Bleyer and wife, Susan, Elmhurst, IL; Joseph Albert Bleyer and wife, Stacey, Marion, IL; Anna Marie (Bleyer) Vogel and husband, Eric S. Vogel, Prairie Village, KS; and James Robert Bleyer and wife, Heidi, Maumee, OH. He is also survived by eleven grandchildren, Jennifer Marie (Vogel) Schroeder and husband, Dan; Eric S. Vogel Jr., and wife, Kaitlin; Margaret Erin Vogel, Kathleen Teresa Vogel, Joseph James Bleyer, Michael D.
Bleyer, Margaret Teresa Bleyer, Mason James Bleyer, Elena Kate Bleyer, James Henry Foradora, and Abigail Margaret Bleyer; and five great-grandchildren, Stella Elizabeth, Michael Stephen, and Luke James Vogel; and Frank Albert and Thomas James Schroeder; and numerous nieces and nephews. The family wishes to acknowledge with gratitude the dedication of long-time caregiver Kenna Garrison.
Jim believed there were few people who had a happier life than he, and he often said “when I die, the undertaker need only fold my hands as it will be unnecessary to paint a smile on my face – it will already be there.”
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to St. Joseph Catholic Church Building Fund; the Albert W. and Margaret Bleyer Scholarship Fund at John A. Logan College; or to a charity of the donor’s choice. Mass intentions may be made through St. Joseph Catholic Church, the Holy Cross Association, Notre Dame, IN, or to a Catholic church of the donor’s choice.
Binkley-Ross Funeral Home is overseeing the arrangements. Time with family and friends to visit and share memories will be from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Friday, January 10, and from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. Saturday, January 11, in St. Joseph Catholic Church in Marion. The Holy Rosary will be recited at 5 p.m. on Friday in the church. A Mass of Christian burial will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, with Father Brian Barker officiating. Interment will be in Hillcrest Cemetery in Carterville.
Reflecting on his life and work as he approached the end of this life, Jim wrote in a journal to his children:
“I am now to the end of the line and at best I have little time left. I am happy that I stayed the course with
the Catholic faith. I want to be remembered as someone who had the kind of pride that motivates you to
do your best regardless of whether it is necessary or expected, and to be remembered as a good family
man – husband, son, father, father-in-law, grandfather, great-grandfather, brother, brother-in-law, and
uncle – and an industrious and dedicated lawyer.” Dad, we know you “fought the good fight to the end,”
ran “the race to the finish,” and “kept the faith.” We are immensely proud of you. And as you stand at the
gates of heaven, God will welcome you home and say to you, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”
(Source: Obit from Binkley-Ross Funeral Home, Marion, Illinois. Posted by Sam Lattuca)