N-R matriarch Meg Bladine dies at 105

##Meg Bladine

Margaret “Meg” Bladine, who was active in the McMinnville community for decades, died Wednesday, March 4, in a McMinnville senior care center. She was 105.

Bladine, who was named McMinnville’s Woman of the Year for 1977, was the matriarch of the family that owns the News-Register.

Margaret Eleanor (Greene) Bladine was born April 10, 1920, in San Angelo, Texas. She met her future husband, the late Philip Bladine, in 1942 on a blind date in Portland, where she was working for IBM. He waited until their first “real” date to propose.

They married Feb. 19, 1943, in Portland before the young Navy ensign shipped out to World War II’s Pacific Theater.

Meg stayed with her family in Texas while her husband was serving, and their daughter, the late Pam Bladine, was born there. After Phil was discharged, they settled in McMinnville in 1945, and their son, Jeb, was born here in 1947.

Phil rejoined his brother, Jack, in running the Telephone-Register, which their father, Lars Bladine, had purchased in 1928. The paper later merged with the News-Reporter to become the News-Register.

She and Phil and their children purchased newspaper business shares from Jack’s children in the early 1990s. Meg served as secretary of the company.

Meg and her husband were active members of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church. She was involved and helped lead many community groups and causes, including Gallery Theater in its formative years, the Community Concert Association, scouting, youth swimming and the American Field Service exchange program.

She also was involved in programs to help and welcome migrant workers.

“Her concern for migrant workers going back at least 50 years here made a real difference,” said Ruben Contreras Jr. in a 2020 “I Dragged the Gut in McMinnville Oregon” Facebook post celebrating Meg’s 100th birthday.

She was a former trustee of Linfield University. She also was a member of PEO Chapter Y in McMinnville, which she joined in 1964, and Daughters of the American Revolution.

She joined her son and daughter-in-law in starting the Bladine Family Fund through the McMinnville Area Community Foundation.

Meg and Phil Bladine helped to popularize regular walking and jogging for exercise in McMinnville.

In the 1960s, Phil met University of Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman, who extolled the benefits of jogging. Although few adults were runners in those days, Phil started jogging every morning.

Then he and Meg began starting each day with a morning walk. They formed a walking club, as well, and continued the habit for decades.

She and her husband also were active golfers and founding members of Michelbook Country Club.

Meg was a cancer survivor. In 2001, she was a grand marshal and speaker at the American Cancer Society’s annual Relay for Life event. She had volunteered for years with ACS’s Reach to Recovery program for people who’ve undergone breast cancer surgery.

She supported her husband in two bids for Congress, in 1974 and 1976. She told friends she didn’t vote for him, though; she didn’t want a political lifestyle, said Nicole VanDeVeere, who was a caregiver for both Phil and Meg Bladine in their later years.

VanDeVeere has known the family for more than two decades and spent time with them Wednesday after Meg Bladine’s death.

“Meg was one-of-a-kind,” she said. “She lived with grace and strength and had a funny sense of humor. She was tiny, but very strong; the glue that held the family together; a steel magnolia.”

In addition to her son, Jeb, Meg Bladine is survived by local grandchildren Ossie Bladine and Chelsey Nichol, as well as great-grandchildren.

Arrangements are under the direction of Macy & Son Funeral Directors, McMinnville. A service will be held Saturday, March 28, at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church.