Mr. Martin Luther Blankenship's Obituary
Funeral Service for Mr. Martin Luther Blankenship, 65, of Pelham, Alabama, will be Wednesday, March 30, 2022 at 3:00 pm at the Chapel of Radney Funeral Home. Pastor Matt Cardwell will officiate. Burial will follow in the Alexander City Cemetery. The family will receive friends on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 from 12:30 pm to 2:30 pm at Radney Funeral Home.
Mr. Blankenship passed away on Friday, March 25, 2022 at his home. He was born on November 3, 1956 in Hollywood, Florida. Martin was a 1976 graduate of Benjamin Russell High School and attended the University of Alabama. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in human resources management. He began his salesman career in grocery distribution, working for Keebler and Blue Bunny. He was instrumental in getting Blue Bunny Ice cream started in the state of Alabama. He then moved on to pharmaceutical sales where he enjoyed a long and successful career, consistently earning within the top sales for his region. He could sell ice to an eskimo.
Martin loved Alabama football, Fox News, working in his yard, decorating for Halloween and Christmas, traveling to national parks and battlefields, baseball, and reading historical non-fiction. He loved music, especially John Prine and Meatloaf. Martin never met a stranger and could make a friend out of anyone.
Above all he loved spending time with his grandchildren and being with his family.
He is survived by his wife of 21 years, Gayla Blankenship; daughters, Jesslyn Cameron Blankenship Mays (Nathan) and Abigail Martin Blankenship Pflaum (Adam); sons, Nathan Alan Gooch (Rachel) and Todd Jared Gooch (Becky); grandchildren, August Blankenship-Mays, Kaylyn Gooch, Marlie Gooch, Emery Gooch, and Willow Gooch; mother, Edith Cameron Blankenship; sister, Rachel Ackerson; and brothers, David Steven Blankenship (Mary), Joseph Cameron Blankenship (Jill), and Alfred Marion Blankenship.
He was preceded in death by his father, Freddie Lavelle Blankenship; grandfather, Rufus Lavelle Blankenship; grandmother Bernice Whitman Blankenship; grandfather, James Edwards Cameron; and grandmother, Edith Josephine Ellison Cameron.
In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made in his name to the Alabama chapter of the American Cancer Society at www.cancer.org/about-us/local/alabama and Birmingham’s chapter of the American Heart Foundation at www.heart.org/en/affiliates/alabama/birmingham.
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