WILLIAM HENRY BLENKO Jr.

1921 - 2016

WILLIAM HENRY BLENKO JR., 94, of Milton, W.Va., passed away on Friday, February 5, 2016, at his residence. Born in 1921, he was a son of the late William Henry Blenko Sr. and Marion Hunt from the famous Hunt Stained Glass Studios. William attended Milton High School and was named valedictorian in 1938. He played on the Milton High School basketball team as forward and center at 5'11". He attended the prestigious Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh, Pa., where he was asked to join Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. While there, he played intramural sports and played a big role in winning the intramural championship in basketball. When World War II began, he patriotically volunteered for the Army Air Corps and trained at Yale. He was commissioned as a First Lieutenant and was stationed to the East Anglia Air bases. William served at Honnington Air Field, England, and at Thetford, England. It was during this time in the Air Corps that he met Jeanne Margaret Deakin, of Oadby, England, who was in the Royal Air Force. They were married in Pittsburgh in 1946. William became the third generation to work at Blenko Glass Company in Milton, W.Va. He was a lifelong member of the VFW, the Lions Club, The Ceramic Society and was an avid Marshall sports fan. He became president of the Blenko Glass Company in 1969 with the death of his father. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by the love of his life, his wife Jeanne Deakin Blenko, his son William Blenko III, close friends Robert Stein of Chicago, Hinton Richmond, Hollis Griffith and Nestor Logan. He is survived by his son Richard and Marty Blenko and his sister-in-law Cathleen Cooper of Leicester, England. A private ceremony was held on February 8, 2016. Memorial contributions may be made in his honor to the Hospice of Huntington. Online condolences may be shared with the family at www.heckfuneralhome.com.