Lang
12/22/25
Longtime Iowa City fixture Gary Bloore…better known to local residents as “Smiley”…has died at age 79.
A post in the “I Love Smiley” Facebook group…which is run by Bloore’s siblings…indicates Bloore died Monday in Maquoketa after a five-year battle with Lewy Body Dementia. Bloore grew up near Maquoketa and began cleaning dishes at Oakdale Hospital in Coralville in 1970. The next year he took a similar job for UI residence halls, doing dishes at the dining rooms of Currier and Hillcrest Halls before ending up at Burge, where he stayed until his retirement in 2016. He moved back to Maquoketa in 2019.
Bloore was a fixture at local Hawkeye and high school athletic events, wearing buttons with photos of his favorite athletes on them. He was known for his trademark “WHOO WHOO!”, which he always returned when a passerby shouted it his way.
Bloore became such a well-known part of the Iowa City landscape that his face appeared on a banner that hung in downtown Iowa City in 2022.
Funeral information will be posted in the “I Love Smiley” Facebook group as soon as it is finalized.