Orville Benjamin Blankenship, age 81

  Orville Benjamin Blankenship, age 81, passed away Saturday, December 6, 2008, at his residence. Funeral service for Orville Benjamin Blankenship were conducted Tues., Dec. 9, 2008 from the Alexander Funeral Home Chapel with Elder J. E. Shoulders officiating.

Ronnie Carter, Casey Stevens, Barry Hammer, Joe Hudson, and Jamie Perrigo served as pallbearers. Orville Benjamin Blankenship was born on, Dec. 9, 1926, in Ellis County, TX. He was the son of the late Carlos Benjamin and Opal Ethola Dotson Blankenship.  He married the former Ovie Lavirl Dotson, sharing their lives together, until her passing on July 22, 2003. Besides his wife and parents; he was preceded in death by; one son, Richard Blankenship. Orville was a veteran serving in the Army during World War II; he worked for Carter’s Automotive Company and also worked for D. T. McCall’s, before retiring in 2003. Orville was a loving and caring person, always going to visit his friends and the sick. On Decoration Day at the Scott Cemetery, he would go there to help take up donations and visit with his family and friends. He was a man who loved to read; and he had a deep love and great pride in his grandson. He was a member of the Breakfast Club at the Stockyard Café. His grandson, Jon, ask that any memorials in the form of donations be made to the Scott Cemetery or Antioch Missionary Baptist Church. He leaves to mourn his passing; grandson, Jon (Anne) Blankenship of Nashville, TN, brother, Chester (Shirley) Blankenship of Carthage, Tenn., sisters, Francis (Rusaw) Carter, Mary (Guthrie) Hammer, and Jo Stevens all of Lafayette, Tenn., Jean (Terry) Cline of Murfreesboro, Tenn., and a host of nieces and nephews.