Robert J. Blanchard

Blanchard, Robert Joseph – son of Peter Manuel and Susie (Kohlmaier) Blanchard, was born July 24, 1923 in Okmulgee County, Okmulgee, Oklahoma. He died August 13, 2009 He graduated in 1941 from St. Anthony’s High School in Okmulgee, where he played basketball and helped in the family feed store business. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1941. On December 20, 1944, he married Army Nurse Lieutenant Frances Stella Gilfillan in San Antonio, Texas. Following honorable discharge from the Army in 1945, they lived in Vermont where their first three children were born. He worked for Fairbanks Morse as a machinist from 1945-1946, New England Telephone and Telegraph almost 15 years, and transferred to S.W. Bell Telephone in 1960. His fourth child was born in 1967. He retired July 1976 from S.W. Bell (after 30 years service in the Bell System) to care for his wife Frances. After Frances’s death in 1985, following a long battle with multiple sclerosis, he married Katherine (Brixey) Zeier on March 3, 1993 at St. Anthony’s Church in Okmulgee. Katherine died in August 1994 following a brief battle with lung cancer. His care and loving devotion to both wives through their illnesses should serve as an example to all. He is remembered for his contributions to the Okmulgee High School Band Boosters, the Boy Scouts, the M.S. Society, and Marian Academy. He was a member of the M.S. Society, St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, Post 10 of the American Legion, the Okmulgee Cemetery Board, Telephone Pioneers, and the Prairie Signals insulator collector’s club. He collected telephone insulators and liked to hunt and fish. He was preceded in death by his parents: Peter M. and Susie (Kohlmaier) Blanchard; his brother, William P. “Bill” Blanchard of Okmulgee; his three sisters and their husbands: Helen Ann and Kenneth Biddle, Okmulgee, Julia Sue and Alvin Bollinger of New Orleans, Louisiana, and Margaret and Bill Veytovich of Okmulgee, his two wives: Frances and Katherine and numerous friends and old cronies. He is survived by his sons and their wives: Stephen R. and Virginia (Kohler) Blanchard of Salt Lake City, Utah; Peter and Shannon (Wilson) Blanchard of Okmulgee, Oklahoma; his daughters and their husbands: Kathy and Jim Youngblood of Catoosa, Oklahoma: and, Melinda S. and Don Crawford, of Moscow, Idaho: eight grandchildren: Amy, Sarah, Jack, Alexa, Allison, Bo, Bayler, and Ben; two great-grandchildren: Devin and Joshua; his dear cousin and traveling companion Theresa Andrina, five step-children, several step-grandchildren, and two step-great-grandchildren, and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews. A Rosary will be held Monday at 7 pm in the McClendon-Winters Funeral Home Chapel. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, 515 S. Morton Ave., Okmulgee, Oklahoma on Tuesday, August 18, 2009 at 10:00 am. Viewing will be at the funeral home on Monday, 1-8 pm. The Celebrant will be Father Patrick McCool of St. Gregory’s Monastery of Shawnee, Oklahoma. Pallbearers will be Larry Biddle, Jerry Curtis, Jerry Biddle, Raymond Godfrey, Pat Zeier and Jon Scherer. Honorary Pallbearers will be Loy Slaton, Charles Simon, Ken Biddle and Tommy Biddle. Memorial contributions are suggested to: The Oklahoma Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society, 4606 E. 75th St., Ste. 103, Bldg. 7, Tulsa, OK 74136 or The Tulsa Rose Garden, Tulsa Garden Center, 2435 S. Peoria, Tulsa, OK 74114, St. Anthony’s Church Altar Society, Okmulgee, Oklahoma. Arrangements are under the direction of the McClendon-Winters Funeral Home of Okmulgee.

Robert J. Blanchard

July 24, 1923 - August 13, 2009