Blackburn’s entry into West Carrollton history began innocently enough. Overhearing a conversation about past grocery stores in the city, Blackburn made a quick retort. “You know,” she said, “we had more than Woody’s in town.”
And while there are few such stores in the city now, the city once was home to 14 grocery stores.
Blackburn should know.
She learned the history of the town by talking to older residents. Many were in their 80s and 90s and one at 102.
“I wrote it all down,” Blackburn explains.
But Blackburn, though she grew up in Kansas, has another solid connection to West Carrollton. She married Earl Blackburn, a member of a family whose name goes way back.
Though Earl died 23 years ago, she remembers vividly how she met him. Blackburn was living in Dayton and a girlfriend suggested she ride home with her.
“Where is West Carrollton?” Blackburn asked.
But with the prospect of a free meal — the girl’s mother operated a restaurant there — Blackburn went along for the ride. Earl knew the girl and came over and sat at their booth.
Love at first sight? “That did it!” Blackburn said.
Blackburn spent 31 years as a civilian employee with the Air Force. Starting in the budget office for travel, she also worked as a contracting officer for WPAFB. She oversaw the cleaning contract for government hospitals.
“I’ve done a lot of traveling around the world,” Blackburn said. But she figures fully three-quarters of it was on her own, not as part of her Air Force job.
When she self-published her autobiography — “I Ain’t Missed a Thing” — she made sure not only the high points, but the fine details of her own life and her parents made it into print.
“My children never knew my parents,” she said.
Blackburn kept a notepad ready, by the phone, in her car and she jotted down “punch lines” whenever they hit.
Pictures were not enough. “A picture is one thing,” she said, “but I wanted them [her parents] to come to life.”
“The book, the minute I die, will become precious.”
And everywhere Blackburn has traveled, a camera has been handy. Her autobiography recounts the details. She has, for instance, gambled on the French Riviera, cried at the concentration camps in Germany, rode a hovercraft across the English Channel, rode the gondolas in Venice.
She remembers as a child in Kansas seeing Amelia Earhart land her plane nearby.
Like everyone, Blackburn’s life has had its share of pain, but she dwells always on the positive. “All of my life has been good,” she said.
“I still think 98 percent of the people in the world are wonderful,” she said.
A first-generation American, her parents came here from Germany.
“There’s not another place I’d rather live than right here in the United States,” she said.
Retired since 1994, Blackburn isn’t slowing down. She’s mulling the idea of another trip to England to visit friends.
Her camera, you can be sure, will be handy.
Contact this columnist at (937) 696-2080 or williamgschmidt@verizon.net.
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