Kathleen "Kathy" Ellen Blankenship

Kathleen Ellen "Kathy" Blankenship, 53, formerly of La Grande, died Dec. 19 at Providence-St. Vincent Hospital in Portland.

A celebration of life will begin at 1 p.m. Saturday at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 515 SW Seventh St. in Hermiston.

Kathy was born Sept. 19, 1955, to David and Dorothy (Thompson) Moore in San Francisco. She lived in Grass Valley, Calif., with her parents and then moved to La Grande in 1969. She graduated from La Grande High School and Eastern Oregon University, earning her teaching credentials in computer, business and secretarial science. She later earned her master's degree in education from Oregon State University.

Kathy's firs three years of teaching were in high schools in Plymouth, Idaho, and in Pendleton. The last 14 years of teaching were in Hermiston where she taught computer and business classes and coached volleyball. Kathy retired in 1995 due to her illness.

She married Jerry Blankenship, but the couple later divorced. In 2002 she and her two sons moved to Hillsboro to be near her doctors.

Kathy loved sports, golf, boating, biking, traveling, crafts and anything involving her two boys. She was instrumental in the planning and construction of Funland Community Park in Hermiston, both the original and the rebuilding. Kathy believed in making a better place to live for her boys.

She is survived by her sons, Jeremy and Ryan; brother, Robert Moore of Weston; mother and stepfather, Dorothy and Jim Bohnenkamp of La Grande; an aunt; two uncles and their wives; and numerous other relatives.

Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society or to any other charity.

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