SIOUX CITY -- Myron Roy Blanchard, 86, of Sioux City died Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009, at a Sioux City hospital.
Services will be 11 a.m. Monday at Morningside Chapel, Christy-Smith Funeral Home, with Pastor LeRoy Struble of Glendale Baptist Church officiating. Burial will be in Memorial Park Cemetery, with military rites conducted by the U.S. Army. Visitation will be 4 to 8 p.m. today, with the family present 6 to 8 p.m., and a prayer service at 7 p.m., at the funeral home.
Myron was born on Feb. 16, 1923, in McClusky, N.D., the son of Roy H. and Nora Emilia (Lasher) Blanchard. He came to Sioux City in 1924. He attended Sioux City Schools. He joined the U.S. Army in 1943, and served in the Pacific Theater as a combat engineer.
On Sept. 9, 1949, he married Darlene Ann Peck in the Glendale Baptist Church in Sioux City. Myron worked for the U.S. Arsenal in Rock Island, Ill., prior to going into the service. After the service, he worked as a machinist for Sioux Tools for 41 years and retired in 1988. Darlene died on Jan. 28, 2004, in Sioux City.
Myron was a lifelong member of Glendale Baptist Church. He enjoyed fishing and hunting when he was younger. He loved to read and enjoyed spending time with his family. He also loved his lutefisk, a perpetual Christmas tradition among Scandinavian Americans. Military service in defense of his country was an especially proud and defining element of his life.
He is survived by two sons and their wives, Gary and Lynette of Hinton, Iowa, and David and Pattie of Salix, Iowa; 10 grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife; a sister, Vivian Hewitt; and a brother, Arlo Blanchard.