Gene Stanley Blankenship
April 14, 1931 ~ December 25, 2017 (age 86) 86 Years OldShare using:
Aiken, SC…… Mr. Gene Stanley Blankenship, 86, of Storm Branch Road, entered into rest on Monday, December 25, 2017 at University Hospital.
His funeral service will be held on Friday, December 29, 2017 at 2:00 PM in the Rowland-Ford Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Roger A. Schwartz officiating. Interment will follow in Southlawn Cemetery. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service at the funeral home.
Mr. Blankenship was a native of St. Louis, MO and had made the Aiken area his home in recent months. He attended Our Redeemer Lutheran Church. He was a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis where he earned his Bachelor's Degree in Engineering. He worked for many years for McDonnell-Douglas where he was a part of the team that developed the electrical system for the Gemini Space Program. Based on his work on the Gemini program, Mr. Blankenship was invited to witness the launch of Skylab 3. When he was not working, he was a Boy Scout leader and took an active role in the youth hockey programs in St. Louis.
He is survived by his wife, Barbara Blankenship; a son, Ronald Stanley Blankenship (Brenda) of Bluffton, SC; a daughter, Kris Kyser (Eddie) of Aiken; six grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by a sister, Ruth Ann Sauter.