Elmer Blankenship, 65, of Sweet Home, died March 29, 2009, surrounded by family at the time of his passing.
He was born Dec. 19, 1943 in Grundy, Va., the son of Glenn and Violet Blankenship and the oldest of nine children.
At the age of 17, he moved from Grundy, where he had worked in the coal mines, to Forks, Wash. where he worked as a timber faller. On Nov. 24, 1962 he married Sybil…