Former Hollister resident
Former Hollister resident Ethel LaFaun “Babe” Blackman died Monday, Dec. 2, 2002 at Santa Teresa Hospital in San Jose. She was 92.
Mrs. Blackman was born in Alden, Okla. and came to California in the mid-1920s with her parents, Walter and Ida McClain. She graduated from San Benito High School and worked at the San Benito County Courthouse until she married Ben Blackman in 1942.
After their marriage the couple lived in Concord, and Mrs. Blackman was a homemaker until her husband’s death in 1965. She then worked for the U.S. Navy at the weapons depot in Martinez. Upon her retirement she traveled the world extensively.
She was an member of Fidelity Rebekah Lodge in Hollister and the Concord chapter of the Ladies Auxiliary of World War I Veterans, and an avid bingo and pinochle player.
She is survived by three grandsons, three great-grandsons, two nephews and her daughter-in-law, Margie Blackman.
In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by her sister, Nyla Gansberger, and her stepson, Richard Blackman.
Graveside services will be held Friday, Dec. 13 at 11 a.m. at Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno. Arrangements and cremation are through Black Cooper Sander Funeral Home and Gavilan Hills Crematory.
Memorials are preferred to the Concord High School Band Boosters in care of the funeral home.
