Daniel Lynn Blankenship, owner of Dan’s Excavation Co. (retired), loving husband and father, died March 28 at home in Sitka. He was 80.
As per his wishes, no services will be held.
Dan was born Aug. 11, 1934, in Dallas, Oregon. His family moved to Alaska in 1946, living first at Security Bay, then Petersburg and later Sitka. He attended Sitka schools, and as a teenager met Margie Klingbeil. They married in 1954, and raised five children.
As a halibut fisherman, Dan worked on the St., Nicholas (Adolph Thomsen), Freddie II (Dick Eliason) and Icy Queen (Merle Enloe).
Dormand McGraw Sr. was his next employer, then the City of
Sitka, where he was the City Shop supervisor.
He had a natural talent for operating heavy equipment, and moved on to jobs operating cranes and backhoes. Eventually he purchased his own backhoe and started Dan’s Excavation Co. It was a vocation he really enjoyed, and it showed in his work – he will be remembered for his precision and safety on the backhoe.
Dan enjoyed fishing, coffee time with friends at the airport round table, plowing snow for friends and family. But mostly he was a homebody. Dan loved Sitka, and never wanted to live anywhere else.
Dan is survived by his wife, Margie; sons Jack of Sitka, Dan Jr. of Soldotna and William of Sitka; daughter Lyn, of Sitka; brother Vaughn (Marian) Blankenship of Sitka; many grandchildren and great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his son, Kenneth, and his parents, Welland Blankenship and Rose Marvin.
