At the time, my parents, George and Lillian Blanks lived on Morrison Springs Road in Red Bank, Tennessee in a little frame house they rented from the Lawson's, who lived next door.

My Dad was doing government construction jobs and worked in West Palm Beach and Panama City, Florida as well as the Oak Ridge facility in Tennessee.  We lived on Morrison Springs Road up until I was about 4 years old when we moved to Middle Vally Road in a house rented from Mr. Hilliard.  After that, we moved to Cresent Club Drive when I was about 6  and that's where I started school at Hixson Elementary in the fall of 1949.  I rode Mr. Barker's school bus #5 each morning and afternoon, but had to walk up Cresent Club Drive to Hamill Road to catch it along with the other kids.

Hixson Elementary teacher were Mrs.? , Mrs. Cunningham, Mrs Thompson, Mrs. Tretchler, Mrs. Minton and Mrs. McGee.

After completing my Freshman  year at Hixson, I transferred to Red Bank as a sophmore and graduated from there in 1961.

After high school, I joined the United States Marine Corps on Jan 12th, 1962 and left for Parris Island Boot Camp on Feb 7, 1962.  After boot camp, I went to the Naval Air Station in Millington, TN for training as a Jet Engine Mechanic.  I was then stationed at Marine Corps Air Station, Beaufort, SC in Headquarters & Maintenance Squadron (H&MS) 31, Marine Air Group (MAG) 31 reporting for duty on Nov 16, 1962 where I remained until my discharge on June 6, 1966.

We returned to Chattanooga where I went to work part time for Delta Air Lines while waiting to enter the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.  I was accepted for the fall quarter of 1967, but Delta was hiring aircraft mechanics in Atlanta at a very good salary at the time.  I chose to take this job instead of attend school and we moved to Atlanta in Nov of 1966. 

I entered Georgia State University in 1969 attending classes in the evening.  Taking only one summer off, I graduated in June 1974 with a BA in Marketing.

In 1977, I resigned from Delta and took a position with SITA as a customer support representative. 

Nancy Diane Morris was born April 10th, 1944 in Knoxville, Tennessee.  Her Dad, Kenneth G. Morris was in the Navy and in the Pacific at the time, so her Mom was living with her parents in Halls, Tennessee.  After the war, her Dad returned to his job at Southern Railroad and eventually transferred to Chattanooga.

 

Diane and I were introduced by Butch Hamill around December 1959.  Butch was a friend who was in my class and had dated her a couple of times before.  He arranged our first date which was Feb. 12, 1960 and we were married on Dec. 14, 1962.

 

We have two sons, Christopher Scott Blanks was born at South Fulton Hospital on March 2nd, 1974.  Brian Todd Blanks was also born at South Fulton Hospital on June 8th, 1976.

At the time both boys were born, we were living on Pineridge Drive in Forest Park, GA.  We had purchased property in north Fayette County in 1972, and in late 1976 we sold our home and rented while we built our new one on our property, moving in 1977.