NEWSPAPER ARTICLES OF BLAIRS APPEARING IN NEWSPAPERS

Theodore Leo Blair, 16 year old son of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Blair of this city died this morning at 3:45 o’clock at St. Gabriel’s hospital from bowel trouble.  He has been ill for the past three weeks and lately he became much weaker.
The deceased was born and raised in this city.  He attended the local schools and was well liked by all of his boy friends.  He had been employed during the summer months and was getting along very nicely up to the time when he became ill three weeks ago.  He is survived by his parents and two brothers, Wilfred and Lester.  The funeral will be held Monday morning at 9 o’clock from St. Francis Xavier church and interment will be in Calvary cemetery. 

Pvt. Wilfred Blair Missing in Action - A former Little Falls man, Pvt. Wilfred Blair, has been missing in action for three weeks in France, the government has informed his wife, who resides in Detroit, Mich.  He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Blair of this city and graduated from high school here in 1925.
Pvt. Blair entered army service about 18 months ago and went overseas last April.  He was with an infantry medical unit.

RE-INTERMENT - The body of Pvt. Wilfred S. Blair, son of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Blair, will arrive in Little Falls at 11:25 a.m. Wednesday.  Military funeral services will be in charge of the American Legion Post Thursday morning at 9 o’clock at St. Mary’s church, with Rev. T.  Leo Keaveny officiating.  Burial will be in the family lot in Calvary cemetery.  The body will be at the Simonet Funeral Home, and friends may call there.  The rosary will be said at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Pvt. Blair was a member of the medical detachment of the 22^nd infantry division.  He was killed in action near St. Lo, in Normandy, France, on August 5, 1944.  He was born in Little Falls on September 22, 1906.  Lester Blair, Flint, Mich., and Dr. Keith P. Blair of Little Falls are brothers of the deceased.  Two other brothers preceded him in death.  He was married to Jean Williamson in October of 1933.  She is now Mrs. Edward Papp of Flint, Mich.

Blair, Peter & Josie son

Eugene Blair
Eugene Blair, 64, Sand Point, Idaho, died on Christmas Day, following surgery.  Born in Little Falls, he had left this city when a child, but had visited here frequently, his latest visit being last summer.
He is survived by his wife, Jessie; a daughter, Mrs. Clarence Ripple (Lila) and four grandchildren in Montana; a brother and three sisters, Peter Blair and Mrs. J.C. Hughes (Delia), Little Falls; Mrs. Mamie Kelly, Portland, Ore. And Mrs. Joseph Goulette (Nellie), Sand Point Idaho.  No details were received as to funeral services

Archie & Andrew Blair, sons of Mitchell

INDIAN THREAT MAY HAVE BEEN FIGMENT OF IMAGINATION

Five Generations Gather to Help Mrs. Blair Celebrate Birthday No. 90  Planning a big shindig for their mother, Mrs. John Blair, in celebration of her ninetieth birthday anniversary, her children took her to the family farm to rest up for the event.  When they returned for her they found Mrs. Blair in the height of her glory, cooking for a harvest crew.  Mrs. Blair reluctantly gave up her place at the range to go to the beauty saloon to be prettied up for the celebration.

The Blair picnic was held Sunday in a Pasco park.  On hand to wish her many happy returns were her four children, 13 of her 20 grandchildren, and 19 great grandchildren, and two great-great grandchildren.  More than 60 persons attended.Her daughters are Mrs. Walter (Mae) Masiker, Spokane; Mrs. Earl (Rose) Kalk, Pasco, and Mrs. Leon L. (Estella) Bailie, Block 20.  Her son, F. Clarence Blair, came from San Diego
The birthday party set two firsts for Franklin County's newest nonagenarian.  Mrs. Bailie and her brother presented their mother with a carnation corsage and Mrs. Pat Dierlam, Pasco, a niece, gave her an orchid.  The corsages were the first store bought posies she could recall ever having received, and the orchid certainly was a new experience for her.  "Flowers cost a lot of money when we were on the farm," said Mrs. Blair.

Anna Wieczorek was born in Germany July 27, 1872.  When she was 18 months old she migrated to the United States with her parents, who took up a homestead near Little Falls, Minn.  On April 14, 1890, she became the bride of John Blair.  Thirteen years later, in 1903, they heeded the enthusiastic beckoning of Blair's brother and came west to Washington's agricultural wonderland.

The Blair's bought Arthus Phillippay's homestead north of Kahlotus and settled there.  After the Midwest plains, Mrs. Blair was terrified by the hill after hill of this country, and lived in constant fear of Indian attack.  In short, she didn't like the bill of goods her husband had bought.  And when the winds came, and she had to sweep her home with a shovel instead of a broom, she really longed for good old Minnesota.

But by 1908, when the Blair's bought an adjacent half section and built thereon, and added such niceties as a well (on the second try), Mrs. Blair began to warm up to her new locale.

There hadn't been any Indian massacres and she had learned those rolling hills produced fine grain.

Also, by that time, Mrs. Blair had found that although Indians hadn't materialized some wonderful neighbors had.  The community dances were never to be forgotten events.  Laden with food the families would go to some friends home, dance until around midnight, knock off for food, then resume dancing until time to head back home for the morning chores.

Estella said her mother taught several young men to dance thus initiating them in an avenue of entertainment she dearly loved and usually starting them on a road to romance.  Mrs. Blair said the Kelso boys, Roy and Carl, were the only two she remembered teaching, but admitted there may have been others.

The people of the area had some wonderful dances in the hall over Lee Kirby's store in Kahlotus, Mrs. Blair recalled.  Kirby was the father of the present Kahlotus merchant, Vester and the store was across the street from the present Kirby building.

Another fond memory Mrs. Blair retains is cooking for the harvest crew.  Although their farm was comparatively small, she cooked for up to 17 men on the place.  In addition, Blair had a steam powered machine with which he did custom threshing as well as his own.  The Blair's also had a combination cook and dining wagon which went with the thresher from farm to farm.  Mrs. Blair did the cooking on the wagon one year, but thereafter delegated it to her daughters.

"At first we had one long table down the center of the wagon," said Mrs. Blair.  "When we put out pie the men at one end would get it all.  It never reached the other end.

"John fixed that by making three separate tables.  Placed them as closely together as possible and we could seat 12.  We put a pie at each table and usually all got a piece.

The Blair girls slept on straw alongside the wagon.  I'd set the table, plates bottom side up, before going to bed," recounted Mrs. Estella, "and my sister would let me sleep while she cooked breakfast.  That was wonderful."

Mrs. Blair was a charter member of the Kahlotus Grange, and also of Sandhills Grange, when it was organized, the family said.

Mr. and Mrs. Blair celebrated their golden wedding anniversary, April 14, 1940, but Mr. Blair was not well at the time.  He died a month later, on May 16.

Tony Mosbrucker, who came as a farm hand, stayed on to work for Mrs. Blair until she decided to move to Pasco.  Since then she as leased the place to Mosbrucker.

Mrs. Blair lives on the third floor of Isabel Apartments in Pasco.  Sometimes she trudges up and down the stairs several times, especially on Sundays for church services.  Her son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Kalk live across the hall in the same apartment.

Members of the Blair can came from far and near for Mrs. Blair's birthday party and the foodstuffs they brought made the park tables groan.  A granddaughter, Mrs. Earl Bangle, came from Enumclaw.  In her group were three teen-age children, Bette, Earl and Mary, plus a grown son, Arnold Dieringer, and his daughter, Linda.

Other grand and/or great grandchildren included: Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Ferry, Spokane; Mr. and Mrs. Fred Blauert and children, Carl, Karen and Kathy, Spangle; Mr. and Mrs. Robert Love and sons, Kerry and Dennis, Richland.Mr. and Mrs. Marion Jenson, Duane and Juanita, Granger; Mrs. Charles Stinehart and son, Robert Toppenish; Mrs. Rosemary Stephens, Happy Camp, Calif.,  Mr. and Mrs. Dale Blair, Duane, Janna, Karel, Kim and Gail, Spokane.   Mr. and Mrs. Howard Blair, Gary and Linda and Mr. and Mrs. John Blair, all of Naches. Mr. and Mrs. Robert Blair, Jerry and Larry, Monroe; Mrs. Maude Blair and sons, James and William, Yakima; Mr. and Mrs. Frederic Blauert and son, Garth, Washtucna.  Garth is a great-great-grandchild.  Nieces Mrs. Dierlam, Pasco; Mrs. Nellie Thomas and Mrs. Laura Schmeizer, both of Kennewick.Old friends Mrs. Sara Burns and Mrs. Chris Hille, Washtucna. The three son-in-laws of Mrs. Blair, Walter Masiker, Earl Kalk and Leon L. Bailie, attended with their wives.

Blair, John & Anna

PETER BLAIR
Simon Peter Blair, 79, died this morning in St. Gabriel's Hospital after a month's illness.  He was born April 16, 1884, in Little Falls, the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Simon Blair, and had made his home here, all his life.  He was a member of the Third Order of St. Francis, and of the Senior Citizens Club.

In 1903 he was married to Josephine Ploof, who survives him, with two sons, Dr. Keith P. Blair, San Diego, Calif., and Lester E. Blair, Flint, Mich.  Also surviving are three sisters; Mrs. John Hughes, Little Falls; Mrs. Mayme Kelly, Portland, Ore., and Mrs. Nellie Goulette, Sand Point, Idaho; four grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

Eugene G. Blais, 64, Sequim, Wash., and a former resident of this area, died June 1 in his home.  A requiem high Mass was read June 3, in Queen of Angels Church, Sequim, and burial was in Mount Angeles Cemetery.  He was born April 3, 1903, in Minnesota, son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Eli Blais, and lived here until 1920, when he moved to Washington.  He was employed for 42 years as a papermaker for Crown-ZellerBach Corp., and was assistant plant superintendent at the time of his death.  He was a member of the Elks Lodge, Knights of Columbus and Sequim Grange.