Elizabeth Blanton

October 8, 1920 - January 23, 2018 Born in Omaha, Nebraska and raised in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Elizabeth was the eldest of Frank and Bertha Groom’s five children and now the last to leave us. After the family moved to Arizona, Elizabeth graduated from Phoenix Union High and went to work at Woolworths’. She married Lee Blanton in January of ’42 and together they raised 5 children. While Lee served in the Air Force in the China-Burma-India Theater during WWII, Elizabeth earned her bandana as a “Rosie” pouring ingots at Alcoa Aluminum. She was featured in the American Rosie the Riveter Association’s first volume of Rosie stories. The military family was stationed in Germany; Columbus, Ohio; the D.C. area; and Houston, Texas before a return to Phoenix and Lee’s retirement from the Air Force. Long interested in Medicine, in the early Seventies Elizabeth attended Phoenix College, earning an Associate degree in Medical Records, which led to a job she loved at Maryvale Hospital. Elizabeth and Lee retired to Sun City, and after a few years moved to “The Big House” at Freedom Plaza and then to The Inn. Lee passed away May 26, 2013. Elizabeth is survived by her children: Richard, Michael, Kathleen, Robert, and Mary, along with their families, including 9 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren. A Memorial Mass will be held Friday, February 9, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. at St. Joachim and St. Anne Parish, 11623 N. 111th Avenue, Sun City AZ 85351, followed by a private interment at Holy Cross Cemetery, 10045 N. Thomas Road, Avondale, AZ.