Roll Call Tribute
Benjamin "Ben" Blankenship Jr. '55 July 8, 2016 12:40 PM updated: July 8, 2016 12:43 PM
Covenant Funeral Service - Stafford obituary
1310 Courthouse Rd.
Stafford, Virginia 22554
(540) 658-9221
BENJAMIN R. BLANKENSHIP, JR.
Born on 03/29/1933
Departed on 06/18/2016
Resided in Stafford, Virginia
Benjamin R. Blankenship, Jr., 83, retired resident of Stafford County’s Aquia Harbour and local columnist and journalist, passed away Saturday, June 18, at his home. He was born March 29, 1933, in Abilene, Texas.
He was preceded in death by his wife of 59 years, Carole Lee Barton Blankenship, originally of Chicago, IL. Survivors include their three children, Benjamin R., III, and Robert Bruce of Aquia Harbour, and Jeanenne Martin of Colorado; grandchildren, Kelly Bryant of Lexington, KY, Melody Johnson of Colorado, Benjamin R., IV, and Jason Blankenship of Aquia Harbour, and Robert Blankenship of Washington, D.C.; great-grandchildren, Gracie and Henry of the Bryant family, Alana, Devynn Lee and Lily of the Johnson family; and great, great-granddaughter, Flaviana.
For over 15 years until his death, Mr. Blankenship served as a regular op-ed columnist both for the Stafford County Sun and his community’s “Harbour View” publication, publishing over 500 newspaper columns and over 200 community commentaries.
In Texas, he was president of his freshman high school class and later was chosen to attend Lone Star Boys State where he was elected secretary of agriculture. He graduated from Texas A&M in 1955, and became an officer in the U.S. Army, stationed in Chicago, IL, where he met and married his wife Carole Lee, in 1956.
He joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a research journalist in 1960, and served in its Washington, D.C., headquarters for 32 years, the last 20 as head of the Information Division for Economics and Statistics. He was honored with the U.S.D.A.’s Superior Service award late in his career there. He originated a paid-subscription policy for reports that had previously been free, saving substantial taxpayer money.
An avid singer of barbershop harmony music for over 40 years, he was a member of Chapters in Fairfax, Fredericksburg, and Mount Vernon, and an organizer of Fredericksburg’s “Virginia Central” Quartet.
In the 1970s he was elected president of the Greenway Downs Citizens Association in Fairfax County. In the 1990s he co-founded North Stafford’s R.O.M.E.O. (Retired Old Men Eating Out) breakfast club, along with the late Charles Chaplin and Joe Duffey. He attended St. William of York Catholic Church in Stafford.
Early in the 1980s, baby granddaughter Melody called him D-Daddy, and the name stuck, adorning all his autos’ license plates from then on.
In the 1990s he grew and sold azaleas from his home gardens under the business name, Azaleas of Aquia. He was a member of the Stafford County Republican Committee.
Active in his home community of Aquia Harbour for over 38 years, Mr. Blankenship led the effort after the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks to memorialize the community’s victims of the Pentagon attack with a permanent park that features an engraved Aquia stone and lighted U.S. flag.
The family will receive friends from 5 to 7 p.m., Thursday, June 23, 2016, at Covenant Funeral Service, Stafford Chapel, with a service following at 7 p.m. Interment will be private in Quantico National Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to S.E.R.V.E., the local Stafford County Food Bank.
1310 Courthouse Rd.
Stafford, Virginia 22554
(540) 658-9221
BENJAMIN R. BLANKENSHIP, JR.
Born on 03/29/1933
Departed on 06/18/2016
Resided in Stafford, Virginia
Benjamin R. Blankenship, Jr., 83, retired resident of Stafford County’s Aquia Harbour and local columnist and journalist, passed away Saturday, June 18, at his home. He was born March 29, 1933, in Abilene, Texas.
He was preceded in death by his wife of 59 years, Carole Lee Barton Blankenship, originally of Chicago, IL. Survivors include their three children, Benjamin R., III, and Robert Bruce of Aquia Harbour, and Jeanenne Martin of Colorado; grandchildren, Kelly Bryant of Lexington, KY, Melody Johnson of Colorado, Benjamin R., IV, and Jason Blankenship of Aquia Harbour, and Robert Blankenship of Washington, D.C.; great-grandchildren, Gracie and Henry of the Bryant family, Alana, Devynn Lee and Lily of the Johnson family; and great, great-granddaughter, Flaviana.
For over 15 years until his death, Mr. Blankenship served as a regular op-ed columnist both for the Stafford County Sun and his community’s “Harbour View” publication, publishing over 500 newspaper columns and over 200 community commentaries.
In Texas, he was president of his freshman high school class and later was chosen to attend Lone Star Boys State where he was elected secretary of agriculture. He graduated from Texas A&M in 1955, and became an officer in the U.S. Army, stationed in Chicago, IL, where he met and married his wife Carole Lee, in 1956.
He joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a research journalist in 1960, and served in its Washington, D.C., headquarters for 32 years, the last 20 as head of the Information Division for Economics and Statistics. He was honored with the U.S.D.A.’s Superior Service award late in his career there. He originated a paid-subscription policy for reports that had previously been free, saving substantial taxpayer money.
An avid singer of barbershop harmony music for over 40 years, he was a member of Chapters in Fairfax, Fredericksburg, and Mount Vernon, and an organizer of Fredericksburg’s “Virginia Central” Quartet.
In the 1970s he was elected president of the Greenway Downs Citizens Association in Fairfax County. In the 1990s he co-founded North Stafford’s R.O.M.E.O. (Retired Old Men Eating Out) breakfast club, along with the late Charles Chaplin and Joe Duffey. He attended St. William of York Catholic Church in Stafford.
Early in the 1980s, baby granddaughter Melody called him D-Daddy, and the name stuck, adorning all his autos’ license plates from then on.
In the 1990s he grew and sold azaleas from his home gardens under the business name, Azaleas of Aquia. He was a member of the Stafford County Republican Committee.
Active in his home community of Aquia Harbour for over 38 years, Mr. Blankenship led the effort after the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks to memorialize the community’s victims of the Pentagon attack with a permanent park that features an engraved Aquia stone and lighted U.S. flag.
The family will receive friends from 5 to 7 p.m., Thursday, June 23, 2016, at Covenant Funeral Service, Stafford Chapel, with a service following at 7 p.m. Interment will be private in Quantico National Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to S.E.R.V.E., the local Stafford County Food Bank.
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