Blanding Motel & Stone Lizard Site Turns 70 this Year: Part I, The Blickenstaff Era

The motel used radiant heat. After about 15 years, Gene decided it would be more economical to have a coal-fed boiler. John and Kurt were put in charge of cleaning out the coal dust and clinkers from the boiler. The two boys spent one entire summer in the crawlspace under the motel, insulating hot water pipes by wrapping and taping newspaper around them. John recalled, “Whenever we came to the Sunday comic section, we would stop what we were doing and read the comics.”

Besides his job and helping to raise a growing family, Gene volunteered at the San Juan Nursing home. He was honored in 1983 for his volunteer service where he spent countless hours visiting the residents and sharing books with a reading circle (a program which he conceived and organized). He was Blanding’s first PR man and loved talking about San Juan County. He even painted a white square on the back side of their living quarters and used it as a screen to show slides he had taken of San Juan County to motel guests during summer evenings.

Their son Todd, recalled: “Motel Blanding is where I grew up from 1963 (birth) to 1976, when we moved three blocks to our new home on 100 East and 100 North in Blanding. The motel was attached to our home, which had two-stories and an unfinished basement. There were 19 rooms (1-20 with no #13). It was heated by a large coal furnace. There were trees, flowers and lawn to maintain, and we had a huge garden in the back. To save money, dad built a flat roof over all the rooms, so the snow had to be shoveled off the roof in the winter. The motel required a lot of work. We helped clean rooms, plant, water and weed the garden, prune the trees, shovel coal, clean the furnace, shovel snow and much more!”

“I also remember when Blanding first paved 100 West, adjacent to Motel Blanding. I rode my bike up and down the newly paved street before the asphalt was set. I came into the house covered with asphalt and oil that flipped up onto me from my bike tires. Mom took me out on the back porch, stripped off my clothes, stuck me in the large utility sink, and used turpentine to remove the street from my skin.”

div>Kurt recalled, “Mom and dad had a sink and toilet in their bedroom, but the only bathroom that had a bath/shower was on the ground floor. One shower for a family of 10. I honestly don’t know how we managed, but we did. We had an upright piano in the family living quarters of the motel. Most of my siblings and I took piano lessons from Mabel June and Shirley Palmer. Regrettably, I did not stick with it long enough to become proficient, but my sister Denise did, and she has “paid it forward” by being the accompanist for many performances, as well as teaching and inspiring many young people in Blanding and Monticello to develop their musical talents.”

“On New Years Eve, we could invite one friend over and mom and dad would let us have a motel room all to ourselves,” Todd remembered. “We would stay up late, play games and watch TV. Every October, deer hunters from California would come and rent rooms. It was one of the only times during the year when we would actually fill all of the rooms. Some of the same hunters came each year. They would bring us oranges, pomegranates, nuts and other goodies from California, and we became friends with them. My dad was a good deer hunter and we loved going with him during the hunt. He would always bring one home and hang it up in the garage where it was cool. We had a refrigerator in the garage and mom was always sending me out there to get something out of the fridge. When I was young, I was scared to go out there when there was a dead deer hanging up. I would put a football helmet on and not look directly at the deer. I would quickly grab whatever mom needed from the fridge and dart back into our house.”

“The garden was amazing! All the fruit and vegetables you could imagine. My favorites were the corn and all the various fruit trees we had”, Todd added. “My mom made delicious pies, cobblers, jams and jellies. The garden was also a fun place to play hide-and-seek. Dad planted several fruit trees behind the motel and kept a large vegetable garden there as well. We harvested cherries, apricots, apples, and peaches, which Mom bottled for use in the winter. Dad created his own hybrid corn seed and prided himself on having corn ready to eat by July 24th. Our summer meals always involved produce from the garden, including corn, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, radishes, asparagus, cantaloupe, and other goodies. I spent hours hoeing weeds and keeping the furrows cleaned out so water would flow to the end of each row.”

From Kurt’s perspective, “The main purpose of the motel was to provide an opportunity for 8 children to learn to work and contribute to the family economy. We all had various chores to perform and were expected to be helpful and diligent. This early training, coupled with the high expectations of my parents, were a great foundation for a lifetime of service and many successes that have blessed my life immeasurably. I am extremely grateful for my Motel Blanding roots and look back on my early years with fondness.”

Many Blanding residents have fond memories of the Blanding Motel: Amy Watkins recalled that Dr. Broughton ran his traveling optometry clinic out of the last unit, and she got first pair of glasses from him.

Tara Dawn Olsen along with Cindy Bradford and Ulene Black cleaned rooms for Francelle when they were 14. “She was the best boss ever!!” Rickell Walters remembers working there also. “It was my very first actual job! I vividly remember making beds and cleaning rooms!”

Kim Fi Chan ran the motel in later years as well as the Rainbow Café on Main Street. Phil and Ann Foutz also ran it for a while and installed a hot tub. Ray and Rae Brown owned it in the late 70’s.

Several families lived in the Blanding Motel while waiting for their own homes to be build. Eva and Stan Byrd were building a home on 2nd West and moved their family into the motel and managed it. Jeff Byrd recalled, “We were so lucky to have a pop machine in our living room. I have fond memories of riding my skateboard down that long sidewalk to the mini mart. I would do that over and over until I was badly sunburned. I think we were there almost a year.” Bonnie and Truitt Purcell had a similar experience, living there from ’78-80 when their home was being built and the Browns were running it. Robin Dawn McDaniel also recalled moving to Blanding in 1978 and living in the main house when the Browns were running it. Carol Barton: “I have lots of memories of that motel. We stayed there when my Dad (Lynn Lee) was interviewing for the principal position-in Blanding. We went to see Oklahoma in the movie theatre that night. Then for the next several years I spent lots of time there as Mary and I were the same age. Mary’s mom had such a fun since of humor. It was always fun to go to her house.” Julie Hawkins: Mitchell Hawkins lived there with his two daughters, Kristi, and Andrea, while he managed it about 1987 Toni Lacy: Mike remembers being taught the gospel of Jesus Christ from a very good missionary (Gene Blickenstaff) in this motel.

David Homedew recalled that Bill Black ran a dry cleaners just east of the motel, and on the other side of that was another small motel. Later it housed the Center Street Café, and then later Norman Lyman’s music store.

The Blickenstaff’s raised a large family, all of whom excelled. Scott served a three-year mission for the LDS church in the Southern Far East and was one of the first missionaries to open Thailand for proselytizing. Upon his return he attended the University of Utah, completing a bachelor’s degree in psychology, class of 1971. He served in the Army for 13 years, which took him and his family to many exciting places, including three years in Belgium where he developed his love for amazing food. He went on to become the clinical director of Bear River Mental Health after receiving his Ph.D. at Utah State University. He later served two missions with his wife Debra, worked in the Logan Temple, and served as bishop of a Utah State University Singles Ward.

The Blickenstaff children were very talented as well as smart and participated in many Blanding productions. Peter Henderson’s, The Happiest Family included music, dance, comedy and drama and Mary Blickenstaff helped coach actors. Her sister Denise placed 3rd in the National Elks contest and was class valedictorian in 1969. She also played the lead in “I Rememer Mama”. John was also the class valedictorian in 1971 and graduated magna cum laude from Brigham Young University earning a master of business administration degree. In 1989 John was promoted to vice president of finance and administration, Tanox Biosystems Inc. of Houston, Texas.

“The motel was never a profitable enterprise while my parents owned it”, Kurt recalled. My father thought that Blanding would have a thriving tourist population, which it does today, but rarely did in the 1950s to the 1970s. There were more tourists in town during the summer months than in winter, but they struggled to break even most years. A possible exception to this was during the 60s when the US Department of Defense was testing and training military personnel in the use of long-range guided missiles. They were launched from a facility on White Mesa and aimed at a target area near White Sands, New Mexico. There were many service men involved in these exercises that were stationed in Blanding and housed in local motels for months at a time. This certainly helped the local economy and provided various social opportunities for the local populace.”

Todd also recalled, “When the army was firing Pershing missiles from Dead Horse Point to White Sands, New Mexico, the enlisted men were stationed out on Black Mesa and the officers stayed in our motel. “We made friends with them, and it was fun having them around. My dad would always offer to grill up some hamburgers in the back yard for our motel guests or take them out on a four-wheel-drive adventure in his Jeep. You don’t really get that type of hospitality when you stay in motels now.” Eugene Blickenstaff, Ph.D. was born April 18, 1947. Gene and Francell celebrated their 50th anniversary in 1990. Gene passed away at home in Logan, Utah on March 26, 2023.