Reva Blanchard

Mrs. Reva Blanchard passed away Saturday, March 6, 2010. Funeral services will be held at Penwell-Gabel Mid Town Chapel at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday March 9, 2010. Reva was born August 6, 1913, to Joseph Morgan Cottle and Ella Brashear Cottle in Rossville, Kansas. She moved with her parents to Wamego, Kansas when she was five years old. She graduated from Wamego High School in 1931. She moved to Topeka, Kansas in 1932. She completed a secretarial course at Clark's School of Business and later attended Pittsburg State Teachers College and Washburn College night school. She married Lloyd M. Blanchard on January 18, 1936. Lloyd preceded her in death on May 30, 1969. Accompanying her husband on several engineering assignments, she worked for the U.S. Public Roads Administration in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and later received the Civilian Service Award from Washington, D.C. While living in Los Angeles, she was secretary in the Engineering Division of Howard Hughes Aircraft Company. She was secretary in the U.S. Air Force Auditor General's Office in New York City, secretary to Dr. Karl Menninger at the Veterans Hospital in Topeka for several years and seventeen years as secretary to the last seven Air Division Commanding Generals at Forbes Air Force Base. She retired in 1973 when the Forbes Air Force Base closed.
In 1972 she was chosen Woman of the Year to represent The Topeka Chapter of the American Business Women's Association in Miami, Florida. She was a member of West Side Christian Church, a 60-year member and Past Matron of Beulah Chapter #34 Order of Eastern Star, Past President of Social Order Beauceant Assembly #24, the Beulah Diamonds Club, which she organized in 1960, and Estrellita Club (both service clubs in Beulah Chapter). She served on the Advisory Board for International Order of Rainbow Girls; was Past District Aide of District #20 in 1962 OES and Chairman of Arrangements for Grand Chapter of Kansas Order of Eastern Star in 1966, and Grand Representative of New Brunswick, Canada, OES in 1986 and 1987, and an Honorary Member of Loyal Chapter OES, Silver Lake. She was a member of Native Sons and Daughters of Kansas and Women's Kansas Day Club. She was a past member of Topeka Women's Club and the Shawnee Country Club. She served on the Executive Board of the former Women's Division of the Chamber of Commerce representing Forbes AFB.
She is survived by one sister, Darlene Flickinger, Belle Plaine, Kansas and one brother, Robert Cottle, of Arizona. Interment will be in Rochester Cemetery. Friends and relatives are invited to attend visiting hours from 7:00 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. Monday at the funeral home. Memorial contributions may be given to West Side Christian Church, 432 S.W. Lindenwood Avenue, Topeka 66606 or to Beulah Chapter #34 Order of Eastern Star in care of the funeral home.