TRUCK FIRE – Firefighters knock down a fire in a Ford Explorer truck in Arrowhead Trailer Park in the 1200 block of Sawmill Creek Road Saturday evening. One person received fire-related injuries and was taken to the hospital, Sitka Fire Department Chief Craig Warren said, and the truck was considered a total loss. The cause of the fire is under investigation, Warren said. The fire hall received the call about the fire at 5:33 p.m., and one fire engine with eight firefighters and an ambulance were dispatched, he said. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
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Daily Sitka Sentinel
Blankenships Mark 70th Anniversary
Vaughn and Marian Blankenship. (Photo provided to the Sentinel)
By Sentinel Staff
Vaughn and Marian Blankenship celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary Wednesday, much the same way as they celebrated their marriage on Jan. 12, 1952 – in a private home with friends and family and a big cake.
The difference between the two events was that the wedding reception took place at the bride’s family home in Ballard, Washington, and the newlyweds were less than a year out of high school.
The anniversary party was at the Blankenships’ own, longtime home in Sitka, and they are now age 88.
Special, careful arrangements were made for Marian, who lives in the Pioneers Home, to join the party, for visiting and reminiscing. Granddaughter Kelly baked them a carrot cake, and 70th anniversary decorations were put up.
Those decorations weren’t easy to find, said the Blankenships’ daughter Rose Risley. “There aren’t a lot of 70th anniversary items” for sale, she said, laughing.
Marian was born in Ketchikan, to Clarence and Sadie Myers. The family moved to Sitka, and she graduated from Sitka High in 1951, then attended business school. Vaughn’s family moved to Sitka from Petersburg in 1949, and he went into commercial fishing.
Over the years, Vaughn also was a heavy equipment operator on several major projects, both locally and on the North Slope; while Marian worked in offices, including for the Visitor Center and ACS.
Most of the Blankenships’ kids and grandkids live in Sitka. Rose and her husband Al Risley live in Juneau, but Brian and his wife Annette, and all but four of their 11 grandkids, live in Sitka. Also in the family are 19 great-grandkids. Their son Robert died in 2002.
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20 YEARS AGO
March 2004
Businesses using the Centennial Hall parking lot testified Tuesday against a proposal to charge them rent in addition to the $200 annual permit fee. City Administrator Hugh Bevan made the proposal in response to the Assembly’s direction to Centennial Hall manager Don Kluting to try to close the $340,000 gap between building revenues and operational costs.
50 YEARS AGO
March 1974
Alaska Native Brotherhood Grand President William S. Paul Sr. will be special guest and speaker at the local ANB, Alaska Native Sisterhood Founders Day program Monday at the ANB Hall.