Kenneth Charles Blank
1946-2020
Kenneth C. Blank, 73, of Edmond, OK, passed away on Sunday, September 13 in Broken Arrow. He was born on December 12, 1946 in Orange, New Jersey, nineteen minutes after his twin sister, Patricia Grace Blank Egleston. Ken graduated from high school in 1965 in Union, NJ and received his BS in Psychology from Montclair State University. He went on to earn a Masters of Divinity from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, MA in 1980. He married the love of his life, Audrey Davis Blank, in 1978 in Bloomfield, NJ.
Ken was ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament by the United Presbyterian Church in 1980 and pastored the church in Haverhill, MA for 3 years. In 1983, Ken and Audrey relocated to Tulsa, OK, where Ken continued his training in Clinical Pastoral Education while serving as a hospital chaplain. In 1988, after years of ministry and service, he was certified as a Supervisor by the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education. For the next 30 years, Ken mentored hundreds of seminary students and clergy for ministry in a hospital setting, through ACPE programs offered by hospitals located in the Oklahoma City area, Tulsa and Muskogee.
As a lifelong educator, Ken designed and implemented the Spirituality In Medicine course at OU College of Medicine and OU College of Pharmacy and organized many pastoral care conferences. He served on a variety of medical ethics committees, including thirteen years as a member of the OMRF Institutional Review Board. Ken was an active member of several national chaplaincy education associations, including the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy, for which he served as president.
Ken’s professional impact on pastoral care was expansive, accounting for 3 decades of influencing, mentoring, and equipping chaplains to support patients and families in moments of crisis and pain. He found joy in everyday moments: admiring classic cars, sharing stories over meals at restaurants, working on house projects, adoring his grandchildren, and charming those around him with a good-natured quip.
Ken was preceded in death by his parents Charles and Cora Blank and survived by his twin sister Pat Egleston and husband Don of Lock Haven, PA; he is survived by his wife of 42 years, Audrey; daughter Suzanne Watt and husband Jonathan, of Jenks, OK; daughter Allison Lawrence and husband Blake, of Edmond, OK; and grandchildren Hannah Watt, Liam Watt, Bennett Lawrence and Charlotte Lawrence.
Services will be held at 2:00 p.m., Monday, September 21, 2020 at First Presbyterian Church of Edmond with interment to follow at Gracelawn Cemetery.
We will be live streaming this service in an effort to accommodate those people that wish to attend but feel they should not due to health regulations. To watch the service CLICK HERE to go to our YouTube page. Then click on ‘Videos’ then ‘Live Streams’.
What a pleasure it was for me to to be with Ken and his kind spirit.
I’m so sorry to find out the passing of Ken. My condolence to all his family and friends.
Ken will always be remembered by me from our early Hamilton school days being in the same classrooms and days summer days in the playground with our stickball games against the school wall. Although, best memories of Ken was with the Boy Scout troop 64 and all the fun times we had in Camp Winnebago summer camp. Mr. Blank, who was Ken’s father, was the troops Scoutmaster when I was a scout. My first visit to the camp I as shy young boys, but Ken was my mentor and taught me a lot on how to survive in the woods, how gather wood for fire and who to start a fire rubbing two pieces of wood together, build a lean-to for shelter, and what not berries to eat. Ken knew his stuff on how to live off the land if you get lost in the woods. The information I learned from Ken back then in the fields, and all of the training on how to live a good clean life, I learned in the scouts from the dedication Mr. Blank gave to us boys, and the mentoring Ken gave me, that I actually apply in situations today.
We were the same age, but he had a certain quality beyond our ages in how he gave me his undivided attention teaching his scouting knowledge to me that I still remember today. A quality, no, more of a gift that he was blessed with that he brought with him throughout his life, a gift that lead him to achieve all his contributions to make other people’s lives better.
Thank you Ken, you are gone, but you’ll never be forgotten by me. God Bless and Rest In Peace.
I was so sorry to hear about Ken’s death. Almost 30 years ago I was fortunate to have had Ken as a mentor in the Clinical Pastoral Education program he directed in OKC. I was blessed by his encouragement and guidance. Ken was a true witness of God’s presence in our lives and an example of how to witness God’s love to others especially those in need. As I pray for Ken to Rest In Peace in God’s heavenly home, I also pray for God’s loving arms to surround Ken’s family bringing them comfort at this time.