1925, Chung­king (now Chong­qing), Chi­na, to Meth­od­ist miss­ion­ary par­ents.

April 19, 2004.

Blanchard grew up in In­di­a­na and North Car­o­li­na. Af­ter grad­u­at­ing from high school in 1943, he at­tend­ed Da­vid­son Col­lege, North Car­o­li­na, for a year, then joined the Navy. After a med­i­cal dis­charge from the Na­vy, he stu­died at Mer­cer Un­i­ver­si­ty, Ma­con, Georg­ia (BA 1947), and the Can­dler School of The­ol­o­gy at Em­o­ry Un­i­ver­si­ty, At­lan­ta, Georg­ia (BD 1949). Blanch­ard was or­dained a Meth­od­ist dea­con in 1949 and eld­er in 1950, af­ter serv­ing two years as pas­tor of the Snell­ville-Gray­son cir­cuit of the North Georg­ia Con­fer­ence. He trans­ferred to the Flor­i­da Con­fer­ence in 1950, and com­plet­ed 40 years in the minis­try of the Unit­ed Meth­od­ist Church, serv­ing in Or­lan­do, Cor­al Ga­bles, Fort Lau­der­dale, Mi­a­mi, Tam­pa, Jack­son­ville, and Hol­i­day. He re­tired in 1988.

1. Fill My Cup, Lord © 1959