BOMBER MEMORIAL

NICOLA LEE "NICKIE" BROWN BLANFORD ~ Class of 1967
September 29, 1949 - May 3, 2018



Nicola Lee "Nickie" Brown Blanford was born on September 24, 1949, in Yakima to Donald Henry and Evelyn Grace Griffth Brown. She passed away at the age of 68 in Phoenix, AZ on May 3, 2018.

Nickie graduated from Richland's Columbia High School in 1967 and from Rush University with a Doctorate in Nursing in June 1990.

She married William K. "Bill" Blanford in Yakima on June 16, 1972.

She was preceded in death by her mother who passed away at the age of 64 in Yakima on January 13, 1990; by her father who passed away at the age of 80 in Yakima on February 21, 2009; and by her sister, Teresa Lynn Brown Ingalsbe on May 22, 2011.


"Since I wish every one would do this, I guess I should start! Ancestry is so much more interesting if you know more about the individual, and they are not just names on a tree. This is written by me, Nickie, about my husband and me and our two children."

Here goes:

Bill and I met in June 1971. I was an associate degree RN and had just moved to Portland to work on my Bachelor's degree. Bill was in Portland for a summer job. He was a junior at MIT. I knew in three weeks that I was going to marry him. I don't think I was in love yet, but believe God was letting me know. It was very strong. We had a great summer with our college age youth group. We fell in love scraping seven layers of wall paper off the walls of a youth house. We did a lot of weekend day trips. I had always wanted to travel and had found a partner with a travel bug of his own. Two and a half months later, the night before he returned to Boston, Bill proposed. I laughed, but accepted.

In January 1972 he took me back to Boston, and in June that year we were married in Yakima. That was the end of my degree quest for 13 years. We traveled back to Boston via interstate 40. We sat at the Grand Canyon and watched the old people watch the sunset because that was all they could do. We decided then that travel would be a financial priority for us.

Our first child was born in December. (Hm, wonder how that happened?) Her name is Janet. I wanted all boys, but boy did God know what he was doing. I worked nights for a couple more years in Boston while Bill completed school, and she was a really easy baby. When Janet was eight months old, we went out and bought some camping equipment. Being an authentic tight wad Dutchman, Bill decided that we would have to camp if we were going to travel much.

Whan Bill graduated in 1974, he got a job in Portland, OR, and we moved there after a 7,000 mile drive down the east coast and through the country. He worked at Tektronix in Beaverton, OR for 13 years. After two years in an apartment and the second baby, we bought our first house. We had that house built, and I went back to work part time to make the payments. Our second baby was a gorgeous little boy we named Peter Mark.

We lived in that house for 11 years and our kids completed grade school in the Beaverton district. Bill worked full time, and I worked part time as a staff nurse and hospital supervisor. Our camping graduated through two VW buses. We pretty much went every weekend that I was't working or on call (all summer). We would pack up and look at the weather so we could go where it wasn't raining. Those were good years, but I was pretty powerless. We had a good marriage and family life, great church, etc. We drove our cars forever, and the only debt we ever had was our mortgage.

In 1985, we took a five week trip across the country in our 1972 VW. In five weeks, we had four nights in a motel. On that trip, I made the decision to go back to school for that degree. My 1972 admission to Portland State was still good, so I jumped in with both feet. In the middle of that time, Bill spent a fall working in Rockford. IL. It was a contract job and a great financial opportunity. He worked nine weeks there. By then I had kids in Junior High and wasn't willing to leave them alone at night in case I got called into work. So I resigned from the hospital where I had worked 11 years. Bill came back home. We paid off our motor home, which we had bought about a year before. (I remember studying all day in that motor home while everyone else hiked.) A year later Bill returned to Rockford on a longer term basis. I stayed home with our kids and finished the last quarter of my degree. I finished in December 1988, graduated and we all moved to Rockford. The money was too good. We left Oregon January 1, never dreaming we would never live in that house again. We kept the house until we moved to Arizona.

Our time in Rockford was a mixed bag and would be last 3 1/2 years. For me, it was great. The first few months I spent studying for the GRE and applying to grad school. On a phone call inquiring about school admission, they told me that I could actually start a couple of classes while waiting for official admission. That was Rush University where I really wanted to go. I was in class the next week. Rush was a WONDERFUL experience. I had intended to focus as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Cardiovascular disease. Along the way, I discovered transplant and was finally beginning to understand the function of the kidney. There was a new program granting a clinical doctorate (as opposed to a more research focused PhD). I stayed an extra calendar year to complete that degree (called Nursing Doctorate) and was the first graduate of that program. It was pretty special for me. I was the first grad of the second ND program in the country. I graduated in 1990 and taught nursing for a year in Rockford.

The time there was good for Bill. He made good money. We rented a little house, and he was able to save and invest. Good start on our retirement.

For the kids, the school district wasn't as good, but Peter got in to a wonderful honors program for his first two years in high school and took up running. Janet graduated from high school in Rockford.

Bill was finishing his job, I had completed that year of teaching and Janet had graduated. We had to go somewhere. We really didn't belong in the Midwest. I don't like to be cold and am not too crazy about that white stuff. Bill and Janet made a trip looking at colleges. She decided on Arizona State, and we all moved to Tempe, AZ. (She wanted to be warm, too.) We looked like the Beverly hillbillies. Bill drove the motor home, Janet drove my Honda Accord and I drove Bill's 1976 Porsche. (In 42 year of marriage, that is still the only really nice thing he has purchased for himself). We had no spare drivers. Peter was just short of his 16th birthday.

We started in a three bedroom apartment in Tempe and after 1 1/2 years, we bought our second house and sold the house in Portland. We have been in that house over 20 years. I worked for about 18 months at a small hospital as a Cardiovascular clinical nurse specialist before landing a job as a liver transplant coordinator. I worked full time for 10 years as liver coordinator, education and a kidney coordinator and Renal Clinical Nurse Specialist. The liver coordinator job was the most meaningful of my life.

Ok, for the best: I know every grandmother thinks that, but I really am blessed.

My daughter is 5'9". I thought she would have an easy time with babies and pregnancy. Well, her short mother had a lot easier time. Janet spent time on bedrest with both kids. They were all worth it.

Lindsay Marie was born normally a month early. She is dynamite! All 5 pounds, 10 ounces of her. Actually, she had a heck of time keeping her food down for nearly six months, and I think her mother wondered what she had done. At a year old, she weighed 15 pounds. We all went on a cruise when she was about 16 months old, and she entertained everyone with her dancing. We couldn't keep her out of the lounges. She was a real ham when she was little. I always said, the bigger her audience the happier she was. She is 15 now, in her second year of high school. She is pretty much a straight A student and a member for the second year of a marching band that takes first place in the state every year. She plays the clarinet, like her mother did. But, what is most special about her is her artistic ability. My dad was talented with his hands, and I am creative, but nobody draws like Lindsay. She will spend 30 hours on a picture and has had high school friends hire her to draw pictures for them. I think her mother has put some of her drawings on her ancestry tree. If so, I will put them on my tree under my profile.

My second granddaughter is Megan Kaylee. She was born 2 years after her sister, also a month early. She actually tried to come way too early, and they had to stop labor. She was born by C section, so she was a beautiful 8 pound baby. And, unlike her sister, she likes to eat and is easy to cook for. Megan is far and away, one of the nicest people I have met in my 65 years. She really doesn't like conflict and is really non-judgmental. She is also smart. We didn't know for a while as she didn't talk until she was three. But, she just didn't have anything to say yet and when she did, it was full sentences. She is 13, also good on the clarinet and a straight A student. And pretty artistic herself. She is a really loyal friend and loves animals. Out of room.

We are in Phoenix now.

Bill's job opportunities were not real great at first, but he consulted for a number of companies. Some of them required some weeks out of town, and with the kids grown, I was at times able to accompany him. We have gone to Cincinnati several times, California a number of times, one lovely two week period in Philadelphia (ok, it was in November, but I like history) and seven weeks in Wichita. I can make a home in a Residence Inn. For 10 years Bill has worked at Orbital Sciences as a contractor with only a six month time off. They make rockets, so I tease him about being a rocket scientist.

Graduate school and some significant jobs have really empowered me. God has been very good to us financially. I just stopped putting up with some of Bill's tight wad tendencies and our marriage is much improved.

Janet went a number of years to ASU majoring in travel and tourism. That drive from Illinois taught her she could just get in the car and go anywhere there was a road. And that is what she does. She quit school because she had been married three years and really wanted a baby. She had two lovely little girls. Marriage lasted 10 years, and she has been divorced for a number of years now. A few years ago she returned to school and, just like her mother, she finished a BA in parks and recreation as an adult. And, also like me, she got more A's as an adult than ever. She really struggles in the job market.

Peter completed high school in Tempe. He is tough. He ran cross country in this heat. He went off to the University of Arizona and majored in chemistry for a number of years. We paid a lot of tuition. Like his father, he is really intelligent and thought he didn't have to study. So, he never completed his degree. He worked at a number of lousy jobs, but, like my Dad, he has been pretty successful selling insurance. He has worked for Liberty Mutual for about 5 years, and in the last year he was promoted to a supervisor. He had never been married, but it is finally going to happen. He, at 39, will be married in San Diego to a lovely girl named Charity Maggard. Charity has been part of our Christmas for a number of years, and we just love her. She already seems like a daughter-in-law.

I have not worked in over 10 years. No need with Bill's job. I took care of my granddaughters a lot and have had a little (very little) business making jewelry and selling seasonally. I had a bout with cancer in 2001 and this year had my gall bladder removed, so the jewelry is not happening this fall. Ancestry has taken hold also seasonally the past three years.

Janet worked for nine years for Alaska Airlines, and those were wonderful years to travel and cruise. We miss those benefits. The years with Orbital have been mostly weekend trips. Bill doesn't get paid if he doesn't work, so he is relunctant to take any time off. We did do 17 days in Spain last Christmas. That is traveling, not vacationing.

Well, I saved the best for last. In the next chapter, I will tell you about my granddaughters. They really are special! Don't miss it."

Bomber Memorial put together by by Shirley COLLINGS Haskins ('66).