James Rickey Blankenship

(March 30, 1953 ~ September 26, 1972)

Rickey, son of James Derwood Blankenship and Lady Nell McMillon and buried in McBee Cemetery, Ovalo, Taylor County, Texas.

TUSCOLA (RNS) - James Rickey Blankenship, 19, of Tuscola, a Hardin-Simmons University freshman, died at 4:52 a.m. Tuesday in Brooks Army Medical Ceneter in San Antonio from injuries he sustained in an electrical accident Sunday.  Funeral will be at 4 p.m.  Thursday in the First United Methodist Church in Lawn.

Officiating will be the Rev. Jessie Dea of Snyder and the Rev. Wayne Oglesby of Milford.  Burial will be in McBee Cemetery under the direction of Fry Funeral Homes of Tuscola.

Blankenship was injured while climbing on an electrical pole at the Jesse Paulk home in Buffalo Gap about 6:30 p.m. Sunday.

He was taken by ambulance to Hendrick Memorial Hospital, then to Dyess AFB where he was flown aboard a C130 to Kelly AFB in San Antonio, where he was transferred to the Army hospital.

He was the son of Mrs. Coy Brown and the late J.D. Blankenship and was born March 30, 1953, in Abilene.  He had lived in Lawn and attended Jim Ned schools in Tuscola before moving to Tuscola in 1971.  He was a 1972 graduate of Jim Ned High School, where he was voted Most Representative Boy, Mr. Jim Ned High School, and Who's Who of the senior class of 1972.

He had been chapter president of the Future Farmers of America, Junior Class president and captain of the football, basketball and baseball teams.  He was also a member of the track team and of Youth Fellowship.  He was a member of the Lawn Methodist Church.

Survivors are his mother and stepfather, Mr. and Mrs. Coy Brown of Tuscola; two brothers, Nickey Don and Danny Blankenship of the home; a sister, Jennifer Lyn Brown of the home; grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Asa McMillion and Mrs. Mae Blankenship, all of Lawn; and an uncle, Travis Blankenship of Lawn.  His father died in 1969.

Pallbearers will be Teddy Halford, Dennis Elliott, Freddie White, Jonnie J. Stewart, Terry Vaugh, Mike Mayfield, Terry Zimmerlee and Mike Watson.

Abilene Reporter-News (Abilene, Texas) - Wed, Sep 27, 1972