Calvin A Blackburn, Jr

Calvin A Blackburn Jr, 86, of Leavenworth WA passed away in his home November 4th 2024 with family by his side. Cal was born December 25th, 1937 in Bozeman Montana to the late Calvin Arthur Blackburn Sr and Ovidia Elizabeth Genevieve Lindston Blackburn. Cal grew up in Montana and traveled with his parents and older brother James Blackburn to many destinations including California and Texas. As a young boy he started drawing maps of his trips which was the start of his future in surveying. His father Cal Sr worked in the Baxter hotel in Bozeman and ran a cafeteria then in 1952 they moved to Wenatchee Washington. After several temporary locations they landed on Walla Walla Avenue with his parents and grandfather Ed Lindston who built the barn that still stands today and is used by the Wenatchee Row and Paddle Club. After attending Wenatchee High School from 1953 to 1957 he worked at the parts department of Joe Welty Ford garage where he met his future wife Mary Arleen Sanderson who was there getting parts for the car she shared with her sister Joan Sanderson. They were married November 27th 1957 and moved to Leavenworth WA, he supported all of the community function’s that Arleen was a part of and a devoted husband, where he started his career with the US Forest Service. He retired after 40 years of surveying and engineering forest roads throughout the Wenatchee National Forest and a short stint as fire guard in Stehekin WA. He was an active member of the Leavenworth community participating in the development of the Bavarian themed town, building floats for the region wide parades, donning elf attire for Christmas celebrations, and weather permitting would flood the little league baseball field making it a community skating rink. With his skills as an engineer, wood carver, and stone sculpture he engineered the redevelopment of the 20 meter Leavenworth Winter Sports ski jump, carved many of the local business signs including Motteler building shops and Der Sportsman, and created many soapstone sculptures for Forest Service retirement gifts. His civic involvement was also beneficial in times of need when he was communications tech for wildfire crews, volunteered with Leavenworth fire department for 19 years, and ran fire crew flight logistics at Moses Lake airport.

Cal and Arleen are survived by 2 daughters and 2 sons Cindy Blackburn Puckett (Jeff), John Calvin Blackburn (Julie), Sandra Cox (Blackburn), Patrick Gregg Blackburn, 10 grandchildren, 1 brother Udell James Blackburn of Cashmere, and 5 cousins, many nieces and nephews, He was preceded in death by his wife of 53 years Mary Arleen Blackburn (Sanderson).

Cal's life will be celebrated 11:00 am Saturday November 23rd 2024 at Leavenworth Church of Nazarene, 111 Ski Hill Drive. In lieu of flowers those who would like to may donate to the Cal Blackburn Rocks Geologic Scholarship fund link (https://cbrgs.org)