Resident of Santa Cruz

A resolute "Good Morning" or "Good Afternoon" was always heard when Harry Blanchard addressed a passerby.

His cheerful salutation greeted complete strangers on the bike path, fellow rowers in the harbor and clients with their four footed companions in the exam room of his veterinary clinic. Always interested in the other guy, Harry had a lifetime collection of characters he’d taken the time to stop and engage in conversation.

Born in 1930 in Haskell, Oklahoma, a child of The Great Depression and reared by a mother with a passion for literature and a father often absent when drilling in the oil fields, Harry had apenchant for hard work and a good read. At sixteen, he hitchhiked the heartland taking odd jobs, always with a book in his back pocket. He would narrate these tales years later, poignant yarns that always seemed to begin with “I met an old boy once who…” and would invariably end in a masterful chuckle.

Harry courted the winsome Mary Hardy of Riverton, Kansas, whom he chanced to meet sharing aride back to college; Mary bedecked in pin curls and Harry, ever the gentleman, feigning nonchalance. They were wed in the blistering heat of an August afternoon in 1952 and moved into the campus WWII barracks refitted for married students. Harry graduated from Kansas State University with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 1954. A member of ROTC, heentered the Air Force as a1st Lieutenant and served at the conclusion of the Korean War at Harlingen AFB in Texas.

As a Captain in the Air Force Reserves and already a family man, Harry gambled on a move to California with Mary and their young children, taking a veterinary post first in Dinuba and then establishing his own practice in San Jose. As a veterinarian, Harry was a compassionate doctor, a skilled surgeon, a conscientious businessman and generous to his community. Hewas active as an officer in the California Veterinary Medical Association and helped to establish emergency medical clinics in the Bay Area. Mary and Harry lived in San Jose for over thirty years, raising their four children, enjoying the company of close friends and traveling extensively.

Indulging his love of the ocean, Harry retired to Santa Cruz where he and Mary fashioned a life in their new community. He became an avid sailor and ocean rower.

Cycling was a great passion as well and transported him along myriad coastal roads. To the end of his well-traveled life, Harry could be spotted daily on his recumbent trike, tooling along East Cliff Drive with his small dog in tow; stopping now and then for a conversation and always delivering the kindly "Good Morning" or "Good Afternoon.”

In addition to Mary, his wife of 72 years, Harry is survived by his son John, daughters Roxanne (Bill Westfield) and Emily (Josh Bentley), his grandchildren Kaitlin, Olivia and William Bentley, his sister Nancy Webb and a growing extended family. He is predeceased by his young daughter Meredith Ann, his parents Arthur Blanchard and Susan Fanning Blanchard and brothers Arthur and Joseph Blanchard.

Services will be held at 2:00pm on Saturday, September 14, 2024 at Trinity Presbyterian Church, 420 Melrose Ave, Santa Cruz, CA 95062.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to B.O.K Ranch, a riding academy for individuals with special needs. Harry always kept a loving eye trained on his granddaughter who is a stable girl at the ranch.

B.O.K. RANCH, PO Box 620702 Woodside, CA 94062 http://www.bokranch.org.