Michelle Elizabeth Bladine 1959 - 2024

Michelle Elizabeth Bladine, 65, was born March 24, 1959, in Fremont, California, the daughter of Albert Malone and Gladys Serrao. She died November 7, 2024, surrounded by family at her cherished home northwest of Carlton, Oregon, ending a courageous and uplifting battle with a rare and incurable cancer.

When she was three years old, Michelle moved to Newberg, Oregon, with her mother, step-father, and a mixed family of siblings. She was raised in, and at age 14, baptized in the Jehovah’s Witnesses faith after being removed from public education by her family. When Michelle pulled away from the religion, she was disfellowshipped by the Elder Committee, deprived of communication from family members as per denomination doctrine, and placed into foster care by the state of Oregon.

Eventually, Michelle lived with a caring family and became Oregon’s youngest emancipated teenager at that time. She then moved to McMinnville, Oregon, in search of a new life, which included three years as a single mother to her daughter.

While operating her own downtown retail business, Michelle met Jeb Bladine of McMinnville. Their love blossomed out of a fateful night at the Blue Moon, and they were married in 1982. Together, they raised their two children and later welcomed five grandchildren. They spent decades in the family newspaper business extending to state and national newspaper industry events, and enjoyed personal, family, friends, and community activities.

Throughout her life, Michelle maintained a fierce love and loyalty to her family and friends, and was known always as the architect of family celebrations.

Michelle lived a creative life every day. She was an avid reader, a connoisseur of classic movies, and her appreciation for fine art flowed through her own artistic pursuits with music, painting, and interior design. She created great meals and loved going out for new dining experiences. She was a one-time photographer for the newspaper; one of the founders of The Soup Kitchen at St. Barnabas; and a talented designer/developer of such projects as the downtown McMinnville O’Dell Building, a family cabin at Pacific City, and their personal residence.

Michelle’s two children and five grandchildren were a continuing source of fulfillment and joy in her life.

In recent years, she established “Michelle’s Fund” within the McMinnville Area Community Foundation to help address the needs of youth in foster care or at-risk youth.

Michelle was the core of extended families who learned through her to express their love for one another and the people close to them. She had, as one in-law relative wrote, true beauty inside and out, with a magnetic personality, huge heart, boundless strength, and obvious intelligence. She will be greatly missed and long-remembered, perhaps best through an iconic line from “Blade Runner,” one of her favorite movies: “The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long, and you have burned so very, very brightly.”

Michelle was predeceased by her father, Albert Malone; mother, Gladys Walkemeyer; step-father, Darrell Walkemeyer; and brothers, Michael “Mike” Malone and Dave Malone. She is survived by her sister, Denise Mayfield; half-siblings, Christine Mox and Karl Walkemeyer; step-siblings, Laurie Walkemeyer, Terri Pryne, and Lisa McCoy; and nephews, Nathan, Abram, and Emory Malone, sons of her brother, David, and their families.

From her family, Michelle was predeceased by her father-in-law, Philip N. Bladine; sister-in-law, Pamela Jane Bladine; and brother-in-law, Roger Allen. She is survived by her husband, Jon E. “Jeb” Bladine of Carlton; daughter, Chelsey Dyan Nichol (Brent) of McMinnville; son, Philip Ossie Bladine (Lacy) of McMinnville; grandchildren, Nora Belle Nichol, Oliver Jon Nichol, Kingsley Eric Bladine, Sloane Angelina Bladine, and Axel Mark Bladine; and mother-in-law, Margaret G. Bladine.

A celebration of Michelle’s life will be held at noon, Saturday, December 7, 2024, at The Bindery in downtown McMinnville.

Memorial donations, in lieu of flowers, may be made through Macy & Sons Funeral Home to The Soup Kitchen at St. Barnabas, or to Michelle’s Fund of the community foundation. To leave condolences, please visit www.macyandson.com.