- Date Of Birth: April 3, 1942
- Date Of Death: November 13, 2015
- State: Montana
Edward J. Blakly was born April 3, 1942 in San Francisco to John and Birdeena Bakly. He grew up in Santa Rosa, CA and Sparks, NV, graduating from Sparks High School. He attended the University of Nevada in Reno for a short time before moving to Alberta, Canada with his family. He worked for an oil company in Alberta before moving back to the States, at which time he joined the Air Force. Ed completed his basic training in Texas, specializing in refrigeration and served the rest of his time at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls. While serving in Great Falls, he joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints where he met his wife, Harriet Corbett. They were married on January 26, 1965. They moved to Martinez, CA after he was honorably discharged and he enrolled at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, CA.
While going to school, he also worked for Systron Donner Co. where he made parts for the space program. In his high school yearbook, it said that he would put man on the moon. Ed made parts that were on the rockets that landed on the moon. During the seven years that he lived in California, he studied electronics at the college and earned an Associates of Arts degree. Then he and his wife and their first three children moved to back Great Falls and purchased his wife’s childhood home. During the first twenty years that he lived there, he purchased an appliance business and they had two more children. After selling his business, he rented out his home and moved to Spokane, WA so his youngest daughter, who had scoliosis, could receive treatment from the Shriner’s Children’s Hospital. He worked for Sturm Heating for about ten years and managed apartments in Spokane. Ed also became a caregiver for his uncle.
Ed and Harriet loved to travel and made trips to Florida, Canada, Russia, and several places of the eastern United States. He enjoyed having exchange students live in their home and felt that the experiences helped them learn more about the world that we live in. Besides traveling, he loved watching movies, especially science fiction and Ed watched all the Star Trek series from the very beginning. He enjoyed Googling on the internet and learned many things there. He also studied up on bees and maintained a couple of beehives. Ed was very skilled in appliance repair, could tell what kind of appliance you had by hearing the sound of it and he could also diagnose what was wrong with it.
He is survived by his wife Harriet; and their five children, Edward Joseph, Eric James (Talona), Moriah Joyce Keller, Elwon John, and Birdeena Ione (Chris) Fleck. He has twenty-four grandchildren and one great- granddaughter. On July 25, 2015 he and his wife were honored by their children with a 50th wedding anniversary party attended by their family and friends.
