Betty Mae Blankenship (3-26-14) service

Betty Mae Blackburn Blankenship, 99, passed away on Wednesday, March 26. She was born on Dec. 17, 1914 in Austin-Traphill community of Wilkes County, N.C. to James W. Blackburn and Betty Miller Blackburn.

She was the youngest and last survivor of nine siblings. She worked at the General Motors Plant in Flint, Mich.

She met her husband, James Thomas “Tom” Blankenship in  Michigan. They moved to Tennessee near Morris Chapel in the early 1970s, to the Hookers Bend community. Tom died in a tractor accident in 1973. Betty continued to live on the farm until 2003 when she entered Riverwick Assisted Living Center in Savannah.

She returned to North Carolina in 2005 to be near relatives and resided at Clemmons Village II Assisted Living Center in Clemmons. She was there at the time of her death.

She is survived by a number of nieces, nephews, grand nieces and grandnephews, and three stepsons, Jerry and Butch Blankenship of Missouri. Tommy Blankenship preceded her in death.

A memorial service was held at Clemmons Village II, Monday, April 21. Her cremation remains were spread on her grave site at the Oakland Cemetery in Hookers Bend.