John Logan Blount (1886 - 1966)

John L. Blount came from a very conservative and strict upbringing. Even with his own family he was a disciplinarian. My feeling is underneath the hard shell and given time of knowing him he was a much warmer person. I have no doubt he loved his grandchildren: John, Susie, Bobby, Eileen and Joey. Personal memory will never let me forget the wonderful conversations we had in his drawing room (he was a fine architect). He was also a good carpenter and made excellent furniture for the family. One, his plans for desalinization of water, his plans for an airplane whose wings could shift positions. The room was filled with an abundant supply of pencils, drawing paper, and plans that had already been made that were in rolls. Countless times, grandfather showed me the plans he was working on, i.e., commercial or residential. To me, in the early 1950s, his whole life revolved around architecture. I also remember tht he was extremely active politically in presidential campaigns (Republican, "sigh"). If we had them today, our buttons would be very extremely valuable. When he came back from voting, he showed me a yellow golden feather, proof of voting. He had many of those political buttons (Ike was his man). If only he had left us those buttons, we wouldn't have to worry about retiring or our 401-K plans. I believe he drove a late 1949 light green Plymouth. He always wore hats, ties, and suits when he was going out and his hair was so fine that he could not use a comb, he had to use a brush. An educated and articulate man, unfortunately or somewhat tragically his voice was impaired by a case of shingles in the mid-1950s. A non-smoker but oddly he drank especially at Sunday meal, Mogan David wine. We would all join together for these dinners.

We were introduced to television approx. in 1953/54 when he surprisingly purchased a television set and brought it into the house and if we spoke out of turn during a show, woe for us. We got that look and the big "shush". This was the time of Ed Sullivan, Lawrence Welk, Jackie Gleason, that golden age of American television. In our house it wasn't so golden. In Seattle at that time there were very few Blacks and even fewer Black architects. I find it remarkable that he already had long standing relationships with the parents of some of the kids I made friends with at school, only I didn't know that when I first became friends with them, i.e., Carl and Gary Coleman, Benjamin and Marsha McAdoo. He loved photography and always took pictures with the recently found - Richey's house (2011), heavy Argus camera. He loved to travel, i.e., Saginaw, MI, Vancouver, Victoria Island. Also I believe I have a picture of him on the beach at Galveston, TX.