CONVOY, OHIO:<\/p>\n
Former Paulding resident, Benjamin M. Blankenship, age 85<\/strong> died Tuesday, October 15 at Van Wert County Hospital, Van Wert, Ohio.<\/p>\n He was born April 8, 1928 in Macon County, TN, the son of Harmon and Idell (Scott) Blankenship. On July 29, 1950 he married Martha Ann Gregory, who preceded him in death on January 30, 2000. He retired from LaFarge Corporation, Paulding.<\/p>\n Benjamin is survived by 3 daughters: Wilma (Ted) Saylor, Convoy, Wanda McCoy, Continental, and Diana Serrao of Titusville, PA; 2 sisters, Irene Brooks of Lafayette, TN and Velma \u201cSis\u201d Burns of Portland, TN; 9 grandchildren; and 11 great grandchildren.<\/p>\n He is preceded in death by his wife; parents; 2 sons, Donald and Ben \u201cJeff\u201d Blankenship; a daughter, Brenda Lee Blankenship; and 4 grandchildren; Jason Paul and Joshua Philip Eldridge, Trent Allen Saylor, and Jessica Blankenship; 2 brothers, Leonard and Delbert Blankenship; and 2 sisters, Lois Lawson and Katherine Jenkins.<\/p>\n Funeral services will be conducted 2PM Thursday, October 17 at Den Herder Funeral Home, Paulding, with Rev. Ben Lowell officiating. Burial will follow in Hedges Cemetery, Paulding County.<\/p>\n Visitation will be 11 AM until time of services on Thursday.<\/p>\n In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations made to a charity of the donor\u2019s choice.<\/p>\n Online condolences may be sent to www.denherderfh.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" CONVOY, OHIO: Former Paulding resident, Benjamin M. Blankenship, age 85 died Tuesday, October 15 at Van Wert County Hospital, Van<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[1784,1785,1425,1426,57],"class_list":["post-4458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-obits","tag-benjamin","tag-blankenship","tag-den","tag-herder","tag-obituary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t