Lou W. Blanton

Louise "Lou" Blanton, 74, passed away on February 16, 2026, in New Bern, North Carolina. She was born on November 19, 1951, in Charleston, West Virginia, to Louise Wray and Charles Wray, both of whom preceded her in death.

Lou spent her early years moving between Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and Oxnard, California-a bi-coastal upbringing that suited her well. She collected many lifelong friends in both places. To many of them, she remained a kind of marvel: adaptable, sharp, and always ready to see what was on the other side of the horizon.

She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and later completed her master's degree at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina. Louise worked as a psychological associate at the Carolina Centre in Greenville, NC, bringing professionalism and compassion to the role.

Water was the constant thread in Louise's story. She loved it in nearly every form-ocean, river, lake-and shaped her life around staying close to it. Her cabin on Moosehead Lake in Maine was her anchor point, though she did leave it long enough to marry the love of her life, James Blanton, more than thirty-five years ago in Quebec City, at the oldest Presbyterian church in North America. It was a fitting start to a marriage built on shared adventure.

They loved sailing, and eventually made their home at the mouth of Blounts Creek, North Carolina. Still, a couple of times each year, they would hitch up the trailer and make the long haul back to their cabin on Moosehead Lake with one of their Springer Spaniels in tow.

Lou is survived by her husband, James Blanton; her son, Matthew Gilbert of Pilot, Virginia; and her sister, Elizabeth Wray of Pulaski, Virginia. She also leaves behind a wide circle of friends gathered from North Carolina to California, to Maine and Quebec-friends who long ago became chosen family.

She will be remembered not in grand gestures but in familiar ones: the sound of water against a hull, a well-worn path to a lakeside cabin, a boat pointed toward open water, and the easy company of those she loved.

A Celebration of Life service in her honor will be announced at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Louise's name can be made to Beaufort County Animal Services by clicking here.

Joseph B. Paul Jr. Funeral Service is honored to assist the Blanton family.