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Brother Charles Allen Blanc, Sr., devoted husband to Frances Nell, went to be with the Lord on February 7, 2020 at the age of 93.
Charles was born to Frank and Burnadine Blanc on November 7, 1926, in Knoxville, Tennessee and lived in Brandenburg, Kentucky for the past 52 years.
He served in the United States Army during World War II. While serving in Korea, his love of music and ability to play multiple instruments led him to organize a jazz band that entertained the troops.
His love of the Lord and desire to follow God’s will led him to varied interests and a lifetime of ministry. At the age of 16 he served as music director of a large adult choir in his hometown of Knoxville. He met the love of his life in a church choir. They married on July 29, 1950. After the birth of a third child, he left his car dealership to answer God’s call to full-time ministry and returned to college to finish a degree at Carson Newman College. After graduation, he moved his family of five to Louisville, KY where he attended The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary to complete a Master of Divinity.
While in seminary, he served Rock Haven Baptist Church in Meade County from 1960-1962. After graduation, he served as pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Louisville, KY from 1962-1967. It was while serving there that a fourth child was born. He bought the first 55 acres of his current farm in Meade County from members of Grace. In 1967, he answered the call to be pastor of Ekron Baptist Church in Meade County. While pastor, he was also active in the church’s music ministry and directed a bell choir that played at various churches and recorded an album. He served Ekron until retiring in 2008. The Blanc Christian Life Center is named in honor of his and Frances Nell’s 42 years of devotion to Ekron.
He didn’t let retirement slow down his love of serving and ministering to others. He and Frances Nell spent 4 winters as “snow birds” in Florida. Even there, he served churches and the retirement community. He continued to preach at various churches and served as a supply pastor until 2018. Even from the hospital after a stroke at the age of 93, he wrote a gospel-centered message to be read at a funeral. The nurses during his many hospital stays didn’t escape the sharing of his love of the Lord and the gospel, even as recently as last Sunday.
His varied interests included playing a serious game of Rook, pitching horseshoes and winning tournaments, serving as ring master at Meade County Fair horseshows for more than twenty-five years and entering a Colonel Sanders look-alike contest, where he took second place. He worked as a social worker for five years in Meade County, where he guided and mentored youth in the community. He served as the Grand Marshal of the Meade County Fair parade in 2009 and was honored to be a Kentucky Colonel. He loved the land and enjoyed clearing the farm to make pastures for his cattle and horses. He built a training and show barn to stable his Tennessee Walking horses and enjoyed showing them in and around Kentucky, Tennessee, and Indiana. His love of “anything with wheels” continued with collecting antique cars and horse carriages.
Brother Blanc was preceded in death by his parents, Frank and Burnadine Blanc; and a brother, Eddie Blanc. He is survived by his loving wife of 69 ½ years, Frances Nell Blanc; four children, Charles Allen Blanc, Jr. and his wife, Inna, Linda Cookie Winburn and her husband, Robert, Belinda Blanc Cross and her husband, Gene, and William “Bill(y) Blanc and his wife, Jill; 11 grandchildren, Lara Beth Hardwick, Andrew Winburn, Emily Ann Turner, Sara Lynn Hanberry, Tiffany Cross Dill, Mallory Francyne Hickman, Clayton Allen Cross, Tilden Frank Cross, Mindy Bailey, Brent Blanc and Jayson Bailey; 19 great grandchildren; and his little dog, Buddy.
A service to glorify God and celebrate Charles’ life will be held at 7:00 PM on Monday February 10 in the Blanc Christian Life Center at Ekron Baptist Church, with Rev. Tom Curry and Dr. Robert Winburn officiating. Visitation will be held on Sunday, February 9 from 5:00-9:00 and again on Monday, February 10 from 4:00 until time of the 7:00 PM service. The committal will be held on Tuesday, February 11 at 11:00 AM, at the Ekron Baptist Church Cemetery, with full military honors.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Ekron Baptist Church Building Fund, to fulfill Brother Blanc’s vision to see the glory of God magnified and the gospel shared through the future growth and building of the church he loved.
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