| Beth T. Howard Blanchard |
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2009
Beth Blanchard, 88, a church member and wife of a four-star Army general, died of atrial fibrillation Sept. 19 at the Fairfax retirement
community near Fort Belvoir.
Mrs. Blanchard, a member of St. Dunstan's Episcopal Church in McLean, made 27 different homes for her family during her husband's
37-year Army career. They lived in the Washington area six times, including 19 years in retirement.
Born Beth Turner Howard in Birmingham, Ala., she grew up there and in New Orleans before moving to Washington. She graduated in 1939
from Western High School in the District and attended American University, where she met George S. Blanchard, whom she would later
marry. She graduated from George Washington University in 1943, and Blanchard graduated a year later from the U.S. Military Academy at
West Point, N.Y.
She managed the multiple tours in Europe and elsewhere, raising four girls, sending them to college and arranging four weddings while
fulfilling the duties of the spouse of a military officer. After her husband retired in 1979, he and she settled in McLean for 11 years. The
moved to North Carolina for 10 years, then returned to the Washington area to live at the Fairfax.
Her husband of almost 62 years died in 2006.
Survivors include four daughters, Kate Hausner of Gambrills, Md., Deborah Roell of Boulder, Colo., and Marylou Hennessey and Blythe
Watkins, both of Norfolk; eight grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.
-- Patricia Sullivan
Beth Blanchard, 88, a church member and wife of a four-star Army general, died of atrial fibrillation Sept. 19 at the Fairfax retirement
community near Fort Belvoir.
Mrs. Blanchard, a member of St. Dunstan's Episcopal Church in McLean, made 27 different homes for her family during her husband's
37-year Army career. They lived in the Washington area six times, including 19 years in retirement.
Born Beth Turner Howard in Birmingham, Ala., she grew up there and in New Orleans before moving to Washington. She graduated in 1939
from Western High School in the District and attended American University, where she met George S. Blanchard, whom she would later
marry. She graduated from George Washington University in 1943, and Blanchard graduated a year later from the U.S. Military Academy at
West Point, N.Y.
She managed the multiple tours in Europe and elsewhere, raising four girls, sending them to college and arranging four weddings while
fulfilling the duties of the spouse of a military officer. After her husband retired in 1979, he and she settled in McLean for 11 years. The
moved to North Carolina for 10 years, then returned to the Washington area to live at the Fairfax.
Her husband of almost 62 years died in 2006.
Survivors include four daughters, Kate Hausner of Gambrills, Md., Deborah Roell of Boulder, Colo., and Marylou Hennessey and Blythe
Watkins, both of Norfolk; eight grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.
-- Patricia Sullivan