Necrology

W. Arthur Blanchard, Jr. '51

Oct. 24, 1926-Aug. 16, 2019

W. Arthur Blanchard, Jr. ’51, an attorney and artist of Dallas, was born on Oct. 24, 1926, in Haskell, Okla., a son of the former Susan Fanning, a schoolteacher, and Arthur Blanchard, Sr., a postmaster. He graduated in 1944 from Cherryvale High School in Kansas and received a scholarship to the University of Kansas. After one semester, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and served in the Pacific Theatre. After the war he reenlisted and was stationed in Germany until 1948.

Blanchard then entered Hamilton, where he graduated with Phi Beta Kappa honors and as class salutatorian. A member of Phi Beta Chi fraternity, the Greek and German major received prizes in ­economics, Latin, and Greek upon graduation. A College memory was recalled tongue-in-cheek: “I resolved never to live in a place that cold again,” he wrote for his 50th reunion yearbook.

Blanchard attended the University of Pennsylvania Law School for a year after Hamilton and later graduated from the University of Texas Law School with an LL.B. in 1955. He began his legal career at Senter and Rosser in Snyder, Texas, where he worked in civil and criminal cases. Blanchard later became the attorney for the City of Snyder, serving from 1961 to 1963.

Thereafter Blanchard relocated to the Lakewood area of Dallas to begin a career at Leachman, Gardere, Akin, Porter & DeHay, which later became Gardere, Wynne, Jaffe & DeHay. He specialized in banking law and went on to cofound his own firm, DeHay & Blanchard, in 1979, which changed to Payne & Blanchard in 1992. He served as a member of the State Bar of Texas, the Dallas Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the American Society of International Law, and the Texas Association of Bank Counsel.

Blanchard balanced his legal acumen with a flair for the arts. He pursued classes at El Centro College and Southern Methodist University. His works, which he created in many media — from oil paintings and charcoal-and-ink drawings, to sculptures and woodcuttings — were occasionally on exhibit and featured in the book Art in Church. He left behind numerous Christmas cards created for family and friends, as well as hundreds of paintings, according to a published obituary.

Blanchard died on Aug. 16, 2019, at the age of 92. He is survived by his wife of 70 years, the former Louise Develin, three children, and four grandsons. He was predeceased by his oldest daughter in 1976.

Necrology Home