Bill Blanton: Former legislator, school board member from Carrollton

William Wallace Blanton, like his father and brother, was devoted to public service in Carrollton. Like his father, he served on the school board. Like his brother, he served in the Texas Legislature.

“He actually considered himself as a servant,” said his son, Tom Blanton of Austin. “He had no agenda. In his mind, he was elected to serve his district and the whole state.”

Blanton, 90, died last Friday of pneumonia at Emeritus Senior Living.

Services were Monday in Carrollton, where graveside services with honors were Tuesday at Hilltop Cemetery in Carrollton.

“He loved it. … He worked very hard at it,” his son said of Blanton’s five terms in the Texas House from 1977 to 1987.

Blanton introduced legislation that changed Texas. His bills allowed students to attend free summer school, established standardized graduation testing and let peace officers issue citations for certain misdemeanors.

“He was never part of the leadership — so-called — in that he was never appointed chair of a standing committee as I recall,” his son said. “But he was totally loved and trusted by everybody. There wasn’t a partisan bone in his body.”

Blanton was born in Shawnee Mission, Kan. His father, Lester “L.F.” Blanton, moved the family to Harlingen in 1931, seeking work during the Great Depression.

“My grandfather wanted to be a farmer because that’s all there was for them to do,” Tom Blanton said.

After two years in the Rio Grande Valley, the family decided to move back to Kansas. While the family was passing through Carrollton, L.F. Blanton noticed a feed mill that was for sale. The business became Blanton Grain Co.

Bill Blanton graduated from Carrollton High School in 1941. He married Clovis Brake in December 1942.

During World War II, he was trained as an Army Air Forces bombardier. He was prepared for deployment to the Pacific when the war ended.

He joined the family grain business after he was discharged in 1945.

L.F. Blanton served on the Carrollton-Farmers Branch school board from 1940 to 1967 and was board president for 27 years. Bill Blanton’s brother, C.F. “Jack” Blanton, was elected Carrollton mayor in 1946. Jack Blanton, who served in the Texas House from 1967 to 1972, died in 2002.

Bill Blanton served on the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District board from 1968 to 1976, when he was elected to the Legislature as a Republican. He did not seek re-election in 1987 so that he could focus on several Schlotzsky’s sandwich shops he and his wife owned.

In addition to his wife and son, Blanton is survived by three daughters, Judy Laverne Luthy of Houston, Dr. Margaret Ellen Rudeseal of of Carrollton and Janet Lea Singleton of Las Vegas; three grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.