Bill Blair, a longtime Queen Anne resident and well-liked community activist, died of brain cancer on June 19. He was 69. Mr. Blair moved to Covington, Wash., in 2005 to live with Marlla Mhoon, whom he married in May of this year.
Mr. Blair was born an only child in 1939 in Milwaukee, Wis., where he graduated from high school in 1957, received degrees in art and architecture from the University of Washington and later a master's degree in landscape architecture from Harvard.
Mr. Blair returned to Seattle, where he worked for Jones and Jones Planning and Visual Resources and later as an open-space planner for the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation.
It was while he was with the Parks Department that Mr. Blair was instrumental in acquiring land for numerous community gardens that included the Interbay P-Patch.
He was a former board member of the Queen Anne Community Council and a staunch member of the Thundering 36th District Democrats, an organization he chaired between 1993 and 1995.
Mr. Blair joined the Covington Planning Commission when he moved to that city.
"We have a tree ordinance in Covington because of Bill Blair," his wife said. "Everybody who knew him, he just touched," she added.
Besides his wife, Mr. Blair is survived by his daughter, Heather Blair, who graduated June 9 from Harvard with a doctorate degree and is moving to California with her husband, Craig Coley; stepdaughter Kendra Mhoon-Coatney who lives with her husband, Marty, and child, Porter, in Lebanon, Ore.; and stepson Darren Mhoon from Renton.
A memorial service will be held for Mr. Blair at 2 p.m. July 13 at the University Lutheran Church, 6556 35th Ave. N.E. Remembrances may be made in his name to the Wildlife and Recreation Foundation and to the Washington Water Trails Association.[[In-content Ad]]
