Florida alumnus left tree-lined legacy for Pittsburgh
PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Jan. 18, 2011 – Florida alumnus and World War II naval hero who survived Kamikaze attacks, Earl August "Pat" Blankenship helped transform Pittsburgh during the years of peace.
The longtime chief of the city's Forestry Division and the owner of a successful tree-pruning business, Mr. Blankenship died Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2010, in Springfield, Mo. He was 86.
His legacy -- Pittsburgh's shade tree-lined streets -- continues to prosper. Many of the city's shade trees survive today because they were planted and pruned under Mr. Blankenship's stewardship.
"When he would drive, he would tell us the names of the trees," said daughter Christine Matviya. "He would get so wrapped up in telling us about them, my mom would yell, 'Keep your eyes on the road!'"
Born in Jersey City, N.J., he was raised in Longwood, Fla. He joined the Navy in World War II and was assigned to the USS Howorth, a destroyer in the Pacific Fleet. He rose to the rank of torpedo-man, 2nd class, as the crew battled from the Solomons to the Philippines, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, where a Japanese Kamikaze pilot crashed into her deck, the second to strike the ship.
"He never really talked about any of that," Matviya said. "But he spoke a little more about his experiences in the Navy as he got older. He told us about being in a typhoon and how they had to lash themselves to the ship."
After the war, Blankenship graduated from the University of Florida at Gainesville with a degree in forestry. He later moved to Pittsburgh, where he toiled as a laborer in the Forestry Division.
Seven years later, he was promoted to city forester, a post he held for the next two decades. A member of the International Shade Tree Conference, he helped found the Society of Municipal Arborists in 1964. His tenure in Pittsburgh was marked by his innovations, which brought modern pruning and planting methods to the neighborhoods' shade trees and urban beautification projects.
"He was a very good man, a pleasant man, always upbeat," Matviya said. "Everyone knew him by his friendly smile. And he sure knew the tree business and his trees."
information courtesy of Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
