On June 2, 1932, Roy Homer Blanton was born the sixth of seven children. Roy grew up on a farm just north of Ackerman, Mississippi as the only boy in a household full of girls, his two much older brothers having already left home. He raised hogs, plowed his fields with a mule, and was so good with a hoe that the garden weeds withered in fear of him.
Roy learned to read music, sing, and attended gospel singings with his father and sisters. In his youth, he also played the taterbug mandolin with Hoyt Ming and the Pepsteppers. At the Webster County Singing at Spring Valley Baptist Church in 1952, Roy spied a pretty young girl sitting directly across the church from him. When the singing paused for “dinner on the grounds”, Roy hurried out the door nearest him, and was waiting outside the other door when the pretty girl, Elizabeth “Anne” Cox of Winona, MS, exited the church for lunch. They had their first date in Winston County, at the Harmony Baptist Church revival, where Anne played the piano. On December 5, 1953, Roy and Anne were married.
A few years later, they welcomed their first child, a son, Alton, into the world. The following year, they had their first daughter, Linda. Less than a year later, Betty arrived earlier than expected. After the scare of the premature birth of their second daughter, they skipped a year, then had another son, Cecil. Thinking that they had completed their family, they were surprised by the arrival of another girl, Nancy, five years later.
They raised their children while he worked at Babcock & Wilcox in West Point, MS. Roy said, “While I was working at B&W, my wife taught our children to sing. That became known as ‘The Blanton Family Singers’.” He enjoyed talking about those years of driving his family to sing throughout most of the Southeastern US.
Growing and working a huge garden with the family was a large part of his life. Hunting and fishing went along with those huge gardens/fields, but the gospel singing his five children did for many years was among his most cherished memories. He would say, “I just drove the bus.” He loved his family, and they loved him. They will always remember him as the hardest working man they ever knew, the one with the quickest wit, and the funniest stories and songs!
On October 23, 2023, Roy departed his earthly home to join his beloved Anne at Jesus’ feet. As Roy so often said at the end of a long visit or call, “Bye, for now.”
When some leave us, they leave a hole. This little man left a crater.
Roy was preceded in death by his wife, Elizabeth “Anne” Blanton, his parents, Berry “Homer” Blanton and Lillian “Myrtle” Cork Blanton, two brothers: Herbert Blanton and Brice Blanton, and two sisters: Lavina O’Bannon and Sarah Lou Castens.
Roy is survived by two sons: Alton (Cheryl) Blanton of Ackerman, MS, and Cecil Blanton of Ackerman, MS, three daughters: Linda (Tommy) Cauthen of Hobbs, NM, Betty-Marie (Byron) Reid of Westmoreland, TN, and Nancy (Allen) Brown of Watertown, TN, two sisters: Norma Shaw of Gore Springs, MS and Lillie Timothy of Mobile, AL, seven grandchildren, and twelve great-grandchildren, with one on the way.