Name: vandran -- My Van Dran Line

Updated: 08-03-2020 18:08:21. Owner: Duana Blakey


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Sources
1. Title:   Duana Blakey Personal Knowledge
2. Title:   California Birth Index, 1905-1995
Author:   Ancestry.com
Publication:   Name: Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005;
3. Title:   U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 (Beta)
Page:   Database online.
Author:   Ancestry.com
Publication:   Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2011;
4. Title:   U.S. Cemetery and Funeral Home Collection
Page:   Database online.
Author:   Ancestry.com
Publication:   Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2011;
5. Title:   Social Security Death Index
Page:   Database online. Number: ; Issue State: Tennessee; Issue Date: 1952.
Author:   Ancestry.com
Publication:   Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2011;
6. Title:   U.S. Public Records Index, Volume 2
Page:   Database online.
Author:   Ancestry.com
Publication:   Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2010;
7. Title:   U.S. Public Records Index, Volume 1
Page:   Database online.
Author:   Ancestry.com
Publication:   Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2010;
8. Title:   California Birth Index, 1905-1995
Page:   Database online. Birthdate: 12 Aug 1955; Birth County: Alameda.
Author:   Ancestry.com
Publication:   Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2005;
9. Title:   1940 United States Federal Census
Page:   Database online. Year: 1940; Census Place: Kewanee, Henry, Illinois; Roll: T627_812; Page: 12A; Enumeration District: 37-42.
Author:   Ancestry.com
Publication:   Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2012;
10. Title:   California Birth Index, 1905-1995
Page:   Database online. Birthdate: 14 Oct 1969; Birth County: Kern.
Author:   Ancestry.com
Publication:   Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2005;
11. Title:   Web: Texas, Find A Grave Index, 1761-2012
Author:   Ancestry.com
Publication:   Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2012;
12. Title:   U.S. Cemetery and Funeral Home Collection
Author:   Ancestry.com
Publication:   Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2011;
13. Title:   Social Security Death Index
Page:   Issue State: Tennessee; Issue Date: 1952
Author:   Ancestry.com
Publication:   Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2011;
14. Title:   U.S. Public Records Index, Volume 2
Author:   Ancestry.com
Publication:   Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2010;
15. Title:   U.S. Public Records Index, Volume 1
Author:   Ancestry.com
Publication:   Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2010;
16. Title:   1940 United States Federal Census
Page:   Year: 1940; Census Place: Kewanee, Henry, Illinois; Roll: T627_812; Page: 12A; Enumeration District: 37-42
Author:   Ancestry.com
Publication:   Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2012;
17. Title:   U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 (Beta)
Publication:   Name: Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 (Beta) [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.;
18. Title:   Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997
Author:   Ancestry.com
Publication:   Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2005;
19. Title:   Death Certificate
20. Title:   Personal knowledge of this individual
Page:   Duana Blakey
21. Title:   Census Records
Page:   Source Citation: Year: 1940; Census Place: Kewanee, Henry, Illinois; Roll: T627_812; Page: 12A; Enumeration District: 37-42.

Notes
a. Note:   Memories from a Shenkle Reunion: Enjoys reading, sewing, embroidery, grandchildren and genealogy. Favorite foods are chicken and chocolate. Favorite memories are being with grandpa Rowe and singing to him. Also "Training" Russell while training the dog.
  2008 Duana Blakey notes: She now suffers from Alzhiemers. It is still the early stages but she forgets quite a bit including occasionally who Dad is. She is no longer able to have calling in the church. I am not sure if she could make it thru a temple session or not anymore. That is sad because she loved working at the temple for so many years.
  Jean Blakey Obit
 Written by Duana Blakey
 Jean Carol Van Dran Blakey passed away on Tuesday, November 30, 2010 at 8am in Coppell, Texas. Jean was born July 22, 1934 in Kewanee, Illinois to John Clarence Van Dran and Mildred Pauline Rowe. She was the second of three children. She lived her early life in both Stark and Henry counties in Illinois.
 When she was a sophomore at Toulon High School she met her future Husband, Merwin Dale Blakey. They married on July 12, 1952 right after she graduated. They started their life together with Merwin serving in the Navy during the Korean Conflict. They moved around many, many times in their life literally living from sea to shining sea across the United States and everywhere in between. They had eight children and had been married for over 58 years when she died.
 Jean was always very active in her church where she accepted many assignments and fulfilled them wholeheartedly. She loved reading the scriptures, planting flowers in her garden and working on her family history. She loved her family and would often tell stories about them.
 Jean is survived by her husband, Merwin, her Children, Duana Lee Blakey of Little Elm, TX, Elizabeth Lynn and Don Wilson of Aloha, OR, Robert Steven and Beth Blakey of Springville, UT, Patricia Dawn Osborn and Laurel Maxwell of Fate, Tx., Matthew Dale and Tina Blakey of Stephenville, MT. Kathleen Blakey of Denton, TX and Letitia Ann and Jeff Miller of Flower Mound, TX.. Her Sister Pauline Frail of Kewanee, IL and her Brother Russell and Mary Jo Van Dran of Toulon, IL. She is also survived by 18 grandchildren, 8 Great Grandchildren and a multitude of nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, 1 daughter and 1 grandson and one Brother in Law.
 Jean Carol Van Dran Blakey - Eulogy
 Written and delivered by Duana Lee Blakey
  Jean Carol Van Dran was born on July 22, 1934 In Kewanee, Illinois to John Clarence Van Dran and Mildred Pauline Rowe. She was the 2nd of three children. She had an older sister Pauline Jeanette Van Dran Frail and a younger brother Russell Dean Van Dran. Her parents long ago returned to live with our Heavenly Father but her sister and brother are still with us and my Uncle Russell and his wife Mary Jo are here today. We appreciate their coming.
  She grew up in both Henry and Stark counties in Illinois. They made several moves but she often talked about being a little girl and living on the same street with both sets of her grandparents. She often told me about her Grampa Rowe taking her for walks in their neighborhood. Those were some of her favorite memories growing up.
  Her parents were often working hard at their restaurants and so she usually had babysitting duty for her brother Russell who was 10 years younger than her. She would put him in the basket of her bike and ride him around town with her. He also remembers a train trip from Illinois to California he took when he was 8 years old with her and Dad. He remembers it taking 3 days and it was his first time to leave home. Both exciting and scary!
  She graduated from Toulon High School in 1952 and married her high school sweetheart, Merwin Dale Blakey a month later on July 12, 1952. They started their life together by moving to Tennessee where he was finishing some of his Navy Training. They soon moved to Oakland, California and he was deployed to Japan. She stayed with her Grama Van Dran for a time before moving into an apartment.
  Moving was to become a way of life for them as they made about 30 moves in their lifetime. Mom became very organized about it. I remember she would designate one of the bathrooms where we would put everything that was to go with us in the cars so it would NOT get packed by accident. I think her greatest achievement in moving was when Dad came home and told her we were moving in 3 days! Somehow she pulled it off.
  Her first 3 children were born while they were in Oakland, Duana Lee, Elizabeth Lynn and Robert Steven were all born in 2 � years. I asked her once why she had her first kids so close together and she said since there were so many years between her brother and sister she thought if we were closer in age we would not fight. I am afraid we soon taught her that fighting with your siblings was NOT age related.
  After Dad finished his service in the Navy we moved back to his parent�s farm in Stark County until he was ready to go to College in Champaign, Illinois. Their 4th child, Patricia Dawn was born during Dad�s senior year in College. Mom worked as a waitress at the local Moose club. Being about 6 years old I wondered why Moose needed a club but she explained it was a lodge group. We met a family named the Balls while we lived there and that meeting was to have a lasting impact on our family. You see the Balls were Mormons.
  After graduation we moved to Littleton, Colorado and one day 2 young men came knocking on the door. The Mormon missionaries were out tracting our street and because of the example of the Ball family my parents welcomed them into our home. Of course as you know our family joined the LDS church and my mom remained a faithful member her whole life.
  Her next 2 children Kelly Jean and Matthew Dale were born in Georgia. Kelly died at birth and so I am sure Mom is enjoying a reunion with her now. Kathleen Arcelia was born in California and Letitia Ann is our only true Texan.
  Whenever we kids would start fighting mom would start singing �Love at Home� I don�t think it had the effect she wanted. I am not sure about the others but it took me years to be able to sing that song in church without rolling my eyes.
  Mom had many opportunities to give service in the church with many different callings. Among them was both ward and stake Primary President and ward and stake Relief Society President. She taught many different age groups in primary. She also served for many years in the Dallas temple, first as an ordinance worker and later as the shift supervisor on Thursday nights. She loved being in the temple.
  But her favorite calling was Blazer teacher. Blazers are 11 year old rowdy and rambunctious boys that mom could somehow always keep under control. Once while I was also teaching in Primary I watched her give them a look and they would calm right down. When I asked her how she did that, she said she threatened them with having to sit on her lap when they misbehaved. That is a fate worse than death for an 11 year old boy!
  But however she was asked to serve she did so wholeheartedly. She was a great example to all of us in how to fulfill our callings. Patty is going to read a letter in a minute from President Ragsdale that he sent her when she was released as Stake Relief Society President. We included it because we think is says much about our mother�s commitment to the Gospel.
  I always remember mom reading the scriptures. Her scriptures were well used, in fact they were almost falling apart from being used so much, so that we replaced them at Christmas a few years ago, but I think she still preferred her well read and marked ones.
  Anonther thing I have always admired about my mom is the support she gave to Dad in his callings. He also had many leadership callings and was often away from home fulfilling them. In all those years I never once heard her complain about the time he had to spend away from our family to serve in those callings.
  Mom had a love of Family History. She worked on our family history for about 40 years before turning it over to me. She laid a great foundation for me to continue with. And she got me seriously started in it by volunteering me to work with her at the local Family History Center here in the Colony. I learned a lot from her.
  Mom learned to love to read from her Mother and I remember her reading to us as children. She passed that love of reading on to most of her children. It was often hard for Dad to get us to get our chores done on Saturday as we were always sneaking off to read in the bathroom.
  She loved her grandchildren and great grandchildren. I can remember her playing the Match game with her grandkids when they were small. She would take about 10 sets of cards and place them face down and then play the game with the kids for hours. She never seemed to get tired of doing that.
  Like many other families we deal with adversity with humor. Mom never lost her sense of humor. I was bringing her home one day from visiting Dad in the Rehab. She was crying, her heart broken because she thought I had stolen her little children. Nothing I said helped so I called to let her talk with some of them but it took over an hour to calm her down. On Monday afternoon we were back with dad and while he was napping she suddenly started going Boohooooo. Friday evening flashed through my mind and I jumped up and said �Mom whats wrong� She looked up and said �Nothing, I was just kidding!� It took me some time to see the humor in that but she thought it was really funny.
  She also never stopped trying to help other people. She was forever trying to push someone in a wheelchair at Hearthstone. Someimes they were not so happy to be pushed in the direction she was taking them but that didn�t usually deter her from trying to be helpful.
  The last couple of years we didn�t always know what mom was laughing about but she loved it when we laughed with her. And although she didn�t usually know who we were she always knew she knew us and was happy to see us.
  It is a great comfort to know that she knows who she is again. We know she will be there to greet each one of us as we take our turns and join her.
  Mom, we love you and we will miss you. Thank you for being our Mother.
  Moms Burial
  We buried mom on Monday Dec 6th in the Dallas Fort Worth National Cemetery. The Address there is 2000 Mountain Creek Parkway; Dallas, TX 75211. She is in section 107 grave 1484. Dad will be buried in the same place when [as the man at the cemetery said] he decides to join her.
  We did have one little setback at the burial. Each family is assigned a 15 minute window at one of 3 pavilions. One of the workers leads the car parade to the spot when it is your turn. We got there before the Hearse so we waited. When it got there they had us pull over inline behind it until it was our turn. [Kathy got the time wrong and did not make it] I was riding with Tisha, Dad, Lynn and Steve and we was the first car behind the hearse. While we were waiting the Hearse driver came up and told us what was happening and then went back to the hearse. When he reached down to open the door nothing happened. Both Tisha and I saw this. He very casually got out his phone and went around to the front of the hearse so we could not see him. Tisha says �He locked himself out� I added �He sure did.� By the way the hearse was running.
  Next we saw him nonchalantly going around and trying each door, even the back door. By now all of us in the car are watching him. Someone said when he tried the back door �Is he going to crawl over the casket?� But no, that door was also locked. Then he went back to the driver�s door which obviously had a keypad on it and started punching in random codes. None of which worked. He again made a phone call and tried some more codes with no luck. By now we are into our 15 minute window to be at the pavilion. Steve says �Well this puts a whole new light on being late for your own funeral doesn�t it�. Indeed.
  Finally he comes back to tell us he has locked himself out. We noticed, we told him. He said the office was trying to locate the code and then he went off to talk to the Cemetery people about the situation. Then Tisha�s husband, Jeff, came up to see what the hold up was. Being a man of action, as soon as he knew what the problem was he went back to his truck and got a crowbar [everyone keeps a crowbar in their truck don�t they?] and took off the radio antenna and headed for the hearse. I thought he was going to break the window! But no; he and the driver worked together to get enough space between the window and frame to get the antenna in and down there to push the unlock button. After what seemed an hour but was about 5 minutes in reality they succeeded. We quickly got back in cars and headed up. We unloaded the casket and fortunately we had not planned any long program, we just had Steve dedicate the grave. Then we were able to see where mom would be buried. It is a beautiful spot and I doubt we could have found a better one if we could have picked it out ourselves. It is just about 30 feet above a large pond with a fountain in it.
  We took a few pictures around the casket and then headed back.
 

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