Alexander Blanger Jr.

Alexander Blanger, Jr, of Houston, TX, passed away at 89 years old due to COPD on April 4, 2025,  at Houston Methodist of Clear Lake surrounded by loving family and listening to many of his extended family saying their goodbyes over the phone.

Alex was born on January 18,1936, to Alexander, Sr, and Grace Blanger in Bellingham, WA. His first job was at Tower Theater while in high school. After graduating from Bremerton High School in 1954, Alex followed his parents to Ketchikan, AK, and began working with his father’s employer, the Ketchikan Pulp Company (KPC).

In 1957, Alex met Dana Magden in Ketchikan. Alex got his draft notice, so he and Dana decided to marry, and went back to Bremerton for a brief time. Alex went to basic training at Fort Ord in California. Their daughter Tamra was born in 1959 in Bremerton and then the Army sent Alex to Fort Douglas in Utah to work as a lab tech. His daughter, Debra, was born in 1960 in Salt Lake City, the same year Alex finished active duty. Alex and Dana divorced in 1963.

Soon after, he was back in Ketchikan, where he joined the Army National Guard and met Joan Clay (nee Strayer). Alex and Joan were married on October 28, 1966, in Joan’s hometown of McMinnville, OR. Alex adopted Joan’s two children from her previous marriage, Lisa (b. 1961) and Peggi (b. 1963), and then they had two children, Liana (b. 1968) and Damon (b.1970). They went on to adopt Victor from Colombia in 1983. They raised their children in McMinnville where Alex held several jobs over the years in insurance, car sales, manufactured homes sales, and most of the time he ran his own company, Al’s Awning Shop. He also volunteered for the McMinnville Fire Department. He had three houses built during this time that he assisted with, one out in the country about 10 miles outside of McMinnville, one in McMinnville and one at Lincoln Beach.

In 1999, Alex retired, and he and Joan spent some time traveling around the country in their RV. Eventually, they returned to Oregon and went back to work as resident managers for Sellwood Harbor Condominium in Portland, where they worked for eight years before they permanently retired and moved to St. Helens, OR, where both Lisa and Liana were living. In St. Helens, Alex built himself a workshop and spent a lot of time on woodworking projects, which he gifted or sold at various shops around town, craft fairs and at the parking lot of Ace Hardware. He also played the violin and bought an ice cream truck so he could keep busy by selling frozen treats around St. Helens and Scappoose. He continued woodworking wherever he lived and while living in the Clear Lake area of Houston, TX, could be seen riding the red scooter the VA gave him all over the area, enjoying the company of others, eating lunch or playing bingo at the Baker Ripley Senior Center and selling his woodworking at the parking lot of the Kroger’s at El Dorado and Space Center.

Alex was predeceased by his parents and sister, Joan Bauer, all of Bremerton, WA, and his son in law, Mark Campbell of Warren OR. He is survived by his beloved wife of 58 years, Joan Blanger; all of his children, Tamra (Sean) Blanger Evans of Farmington NM, Debra Boyd of Jonestown TX, Lisa Campbell of Houston TX, Peggi (Bob) Sherris of Harper TX, Liana (Jeff) Russell of Houston TX, Damon Blanger of Newberg OR, and Victor Blanger of Wilsonville, OR; and numerous grandchildren, great grandchildren and a very large extended family. He loved and was loved dearly.

Alex was a Baptist for most of his life, attending Bethel Baptist in McMinnville, OR, Sellwood Baptist in Portland, OR, Grace Baptist in St. Helens, OR, and First Baptist in Harper, TX, where he made many good friends and supported Joan in all her church endeavors.

Services with military honors will be held at the Houston National Cemetery, 10410 Veterans Memorial Dr., Houston, TX 77038 on April 30, 2025, at 11:15 AM, where his former pastor from Harper TX, Steve Williams, will speak on behalf of the family. Please join the family afterwards for a luncheon reception at Haywire, 947 Gessner Rd, Ste A 100, Houston, TX, 77024 from 12:30 to 3:30 pm. Pastor Steve will again be the officiant at the internment ceremony at 4 pm at columbaria 18 at the Houston National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to The Rogue Riverkeeper, a group dedicated to Alex’s favorite river where he took many white water rafting trips with family and friends and/or to The Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, where he received the majority of his care for the last couple of years. Alex told everyone that the VA took great care of him! 

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