SUPPLY, N.C. – On Nov. 4, Mary Staples Blanchard, 85, of Supply, N.C., (formerly of Auburn and Turner) passed away peacefully after an extended illness. She received words of comfort, love and reassurance from family members gathered at her home in Supply, N.C., as the Lord called her home on Sunday.

She was born in Turner Dec. 3, 1921. Her parents, Earle and Mildred Staples were proprietors of the Staples’ Store in Turner. Their family, large in both size and love included three daughters, Esther, Mary and Lois; and two sons, Stanley and Linwood (both now deceased). She was an honor graduate from Leavitt Institute in 1940. An avid alto horn player, she marched with the school’s band at the opening of the Kittery Bridge in the late 1930s.

She married her sweetheart, James Freeman Blanchard at Turner Federated Church on Oct. 5, 1944. They lived with their three children, (James Jr., Susan, and Mildred) at the Blanchard Farm in Auburn for several years before Jim’s job with Eastern Airlines took the family to New York, and then on to Charlotte, N.C. Their family grew and prospered during this time, blossoming to include 11 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. Jim and Mary spent their golden years near the North Carolina seashore.

She is survived by her husband of 63 years, James Blanchard of Supply, N.C.; two sisters, Lois Grant and Esther Mair; a son, James Blanchard Jr. and his wife, Sandra, of Tampa, Fla., their three children, Kim House, Glenn Hitson and James Patrick Blanton and his wife, Lisa; a daughter, Susan Martin of Leicester, N.C., and her three children, Daniel Martin and his wife, Jennifer, Patricia McNelly and her husband, Kevin, and Mary Kersey and her husband, Anthony Tillman; a daughter, Mildred Jones and her husband, Jerry, of Supply, N.C., their five children, Tonya Taylor and her husband, Charles, Rhonda Weaver and her husband, David, Richard Duke and his wife, Kimberly, James Duke and Jerry Jones Jr.; and 18 great-grandchildren.

The family expresses its thanks to the wonderful staff of Lower Cape Fear Hospice.