Walter D Blanding
| Date of Interment or Death | 12/02/1947 |
|---|---|
| Location | Old Fairview |
| Section | D |
| Block-Lot-Grave | 9-1-1n |
Obituary
Walter D. Blanding, Wahpeton Pioneer Dies Sunday
Funeral Rites Are Set for Tuesday at Vertin Chapel
Funeral services for W. D. Blanding resident of this community the past 75 years, who died Sunday _______ at St. Francis hospital, will be held Tuesday at 2 p.m. at Vertin chapel with Rev. J.H. Rees officiating.
Walter Dimmock Blanding was born July 14, ____ in Muscoda Wisc., his family moving shortly thereafter to Lancaster, Wisc., and coming to the Red River valley. When Mr. Blanding was a lad if ____making the trip by boat to the _____ and coming to the end of the ______ line of the Great Northern at Breckenridge.
His father, the late J. W. Blading had made a surveying trip through this area the year before and brought his family here to _______ only resident on this side of the river was M.T. Rich.
Mr. Blanding spent a colorful boyhood in the pioneer community, _____ the flatboats playing on the Red River, trapping along the Bois de
Sioux, accompanying his father on surveying trips and making ________ overland trips with fight trains from Fort Abercrombie to Wahpeton.
He joined other pioneer young people with classes taught by his brother and sister at the Blanding home and later attended the University of Minnesota where he received his athletic “M” in the early 80’s. He returned to read law in the offices of McCumber & Bogart, was deputy sheriff for a time, then went into railroading. He fired on the woodburning engines for a period, making a run from Willmar north. When coal burning engines were adopted the gas from the coal made him ill and he left the railroading profession and started farming the home farm with his brother the late Joseph S. Blanding.
He remained on the farm with the exception of one year when he joined the gold rush to Alaska. Neither he nor his brother married: Mr. Blanding was the only surviving member of the family of ten children.
He leaves several nieces and nephews: Blanding and _______of Devils Lake; Don _______of Hollywood; Walter Joseph _______ and Marie Hyatt. A grandniece Miss Evelyn Blanding who has made her home with the family since childhood is the only local survivor.
Headstone photograph(s)
Location
Old Fairview is located on the southern half of the cemetery grounds.