A vigil service will be held in the Bonners Ferry Funeral home chapel at 7 p.m. Monday, August 29, for Barbara Marie (Hinkle) Blockhan, 68, who died at her Bonners Ferry home August 21, 2005, after an 18-year battle with cancer. Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, August 30, at St. Ann's Catholic Church. She will be laid to rest in Grandview Cemetery.
She was born in Bonners Ferry November 4, 1936, the daughter of Lewis and Viola (Walter) Hinkle. She lived with her family in Idaho, Washington and California before settling in Colorado.
In high school in McClave, Colorado, she won the Colorado "Make it with Wool" contest, she served on the student council, served as president of her senior class, was an FFA Sweetheart, and served as a member of the Colorado Junior Chamber of Commerce. She graduated as Valedictorian of the McClave High School Class of 1955, winning both the Boettcher Scholarship and the Colorado Centennial Scholarship, which helped her attend Colorado A&M College in Fort Collins.
She was an active member of the Bent County, Colorado, 4-H Club, where she excelled in sewing projects.
After completing her schooling, Barbara went into the insurance business, working with Security Life, Tolly Weedman, and other agencies, earning a reputation as the top insurance woman in Colorado Springs.
In her spare time, she was a member of the Colorado Springs bowling league, where she met and later married Kenneth Earle Blockhan on Jun 7, 1958. They were married for 47 years.
They made their home in Manitou Springs, Colorado, starting their family while Barbara continued to work for Preferred Risk Agency and Security Savings and Loan. In 1967, she and Ken started their own Frontier/Husky service station in Chipeta Park, Colorado.
Their older sons graduated from Manitou Springs High School in Colorado, and in 1978, Barbara, Ken and their two younger sons moved to her Uncle Lloyd "Sharkie" Walter's property in the Copeland area, and Barbara went back to work at First Security Bank, then located on Main Street, where she worked until 1987. Her two younger sons graduated from Bonners Ferry High School in 1988 and 1990.
She enjoyed sewing, crafts, cooking, gardening, clipping coupons for numerous charitable organizations and canning her famous jams. She is remembered as a generous wife, mother, grandmother and friend to all who knew her.
She is survived by her husband, Kenneth Earle Blockhan Sr.; sons Kenneth Blockhan Jr., Bothell, Washington, Keith Blockhan, Bonners Ferry, Don Blockhan and wife Nicole, Everett, Washington, and Joel Blockhan and wife Susie, Woodinville, Washington; sisters Dorothy Ellicott, Eads, Colorado, and L. Kay Fuller, Vilas, North Carolina; brothers Charles Hinkle, Yuma, Arizona, and Gary Hinkle, Colorado Springs, Colorado; ten grandchildren and two step great-grandchildren.
Originally published on the website - Kootenai Valley Press - August 26, 2005
http://www.kvpress.com/obituaries/2005/0821blockhan.htm