Lionel "Joe" Claude Blackburn (1918-1946)

BLACKBURN, TWIT, JACOBSON

Posted By: Dorian Myhre (email)
Date: 10/14/2023 at 15:36:44

From The Slater News December 9, 1965 (page 1)

Remains of Mountain Guide Found after Nineteen Years

Nineteen years ago in November, Joe Blackburn was working as a guide at a lodge at Mt. Ranier in the state of Washington. When the report came that a guest was lost, Mr. Blackburn prepared to search for him.

Taking provisions for 24 hours and mounting his horse, he was on the trail to do what proved to be his last assignment. Not much attention was paid to his continued absence that night, but when he had not returned by noon the next day, his wife and co-workers began to feel concerned for his safety, especially when his trusted horse came back. In the meantime a snowstorm had obliterated the tracks and, although volunteers and boy scouts combed the area carefully, no trace of him was found.

His wife, Arlene, daughter of Mrs. Randie Twit, with her infant daughter, Randie Jo, waited apprehensively at the lodge for further reports from the searchers. The sheriff and others continued through the months and finally years seeking an answer to what could have happened to Mr. Blackburn, an experienced guide.

Mrs. Blackburn stayed in Richland, Wash., and nearby area to keep in touch with any developments until the next spring when she and her baby returned to live in Slater with her mother.

Now after 19 years, in the latter part of November, rangers discovered his remains on Mt. Ranier. Positive identification of the remains were possible and it appeared that he died of cold and exposure. Mrs. Bernie Jacobson of Story City, formerly Arlene Blackburn, and her daughter, Randie Jo Jacobson, now a student at A. I. B. in Des Moines, left by plane to attend funeral services held for Joe Blackburn at Idaho Falls, Idaho, on Friday, Dec. 3 and arrived home on Wednesday morning. Also surviving are his parents who live in Idaho Falls and several brothers and sisters.

Arlene Twit became a Wave during World War II and met Joe Blackburn when she was on duty at a Farragut, Idaho hospital. After their marriage they were living in Richland, Wash., and frequently she accompanied him to Mt. Ranier lodge when he worked there. Seven years after his disappearance, he was declared legally dead. Several years after this Arlene married Bernie Jacobson and he adopted Randie Jo. They are also the parents of a four-year-old son, Greg, and are living in Story City where they have built a new home.

And so at last another November 19 years later, the uncertainty of that bleak November has become a certainty for Joe's relatives and friends., all those who waited and wondered as time marched on.