Carol Blanton

 

 

Westminster – Carol Marie Tysland Blanton, 82, passed away in the early morning hours of March 30, 2023 at Lila Doyle – Post Acute.  The family will receive friends on Tuesday, April 4, 2023 from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm at Sandifer Funeral Home.  No formal service will be held per Carol’s wishes. In lieu of flowers, Carol preferred that people choose a favorite charity and make a donation in her memory.

 

Carol was born February 6, 1941 in San Francisco, California to Delmar Lorain Tysland and Ardis Strand Tysland, both of Canton, South Dakota.  Carol was raised in the Lutheran faith and grew up in the Bay area of California until she was 14 years old when the family moved back to a farm near Canton, South Dakota.  Carol finished high school in Canton, completed Secretarial College and went to work for South Dakota Senator Carl Mundt.

 

After a year, at age 18, she was transferred to the Washington DC office.  While working there, she worked with or became acquainted with several notable persons of the era, including Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina.  She also met and married a young Senate guard from North Carolina named Sammy Foster Blanton.  Later, she and Sam moved to the Raleigh/Durham area of North Carolina.

 

In 1970, Carol and Sam partnered with Carol’s parents to buy a farm in Yancey County, North Carolina to raise feeder pigs.  The marriage did not survive the stresses of the enterprise.  Carol never remarried.

 

In 1974, Carol went to work for Wrangler, Inc. as a sewing machine operator.  In a few years she rose to plant manager and later corporate trainer.  When Wrangler was taken over by Blue Bell, Inc. she stayed on and retired to Westminster, SC in 2001 to live near her brother and sister-in-law.  She is survived by her brother, Otto Tysland and sister-in-law Pauline Roberts.