John C. Blunt

died at his home in Poulsbo, Washington, with his family nearby.J.C. was born June 18, 1928 in Chatham, New York. His father, Ira, was a professional singer and performed regularly for the "Coca-Cola Hour" on national radio. His mother, Marion, was an amateur poet.As a youth he was nurtured in the art of fishing and hunting, and his prowess as a marksman followed him throughout his life. He graduated from Ohio State University in 1952 as a botanist; he had dreams of becoming a "conservationist" in the early dawn of the environmental movement. He volunteered for the Marine Corps soon thereafter and served as a radioman during the Korean War on the USS Rankin, a ship that toured throughout the Mediterranean Sea.He pioneered Oregon in the mid-fifties, working as a logger in the remote coastal areas around Myrtle Creek and Drain, a time he later cited as the hardest and happiest of his life.Responding to his father's sudden death, he moved to San Diego in 1956 and took a job as a land surveyor. He conducted work on the "Mission Bay Project" which transformed its tidal flats and estuaries into the infamous recreation area still enjoyed today. He met his wife, Jennifer Steven Fitzgerald, there and married her two weeks later on September 13, 1958. In 1960 their first son, John Beaver, was born. Two weeks after that they returned to Oregon, where J.C. was hired and eventually became the "head party chief" for the city of Eugene survey department. In 1962 they had their second son, Joseph Warner. In that position he oversaw the 1968 expansion to Mahlon Sweet Fields Airport. That job prompted him to earn his pilot's license, cultivating his long-time love of aviation, and inspired his son, Joseph, to pursue a storied career as an Air Force A-10 and Alaska Airlines pilot.In 1972 he moved his family to Bend where he eventually became the city surveyor. Before retiring in 1992, he was instrumental in many important projects, including the 3rd Street conversion that rerouted north/south traffic through the city. In his last days, he recounted many warm memories from those years. J.C. was a man of simple pleasures who loved nature. A man loved by all animals� great and small�he is remembered as a gentle and quiet soul, a deeply charming man who could speak fluently on any number of topics.He is survived�and missed�by his wife; two sons; and four grandchildren: Emelia, Liam, Chaeli, and Joshua.