Darlene Anita Blackburn

Darlene Anita Boyer Blackburn, 92 years of age, passed away at 3:07 p.m. on Aug. 13, 2026, at the University of Tennessee Hospital in Knoxville, Tenn.
Darlene was born May 4, 1934, at her home in Etna Green, to the late Lawrence John Boyer and Mary Amanda (Black) Boyer. She was the third of four children. She had two brothers older than her, Kenneth Eugene Boyer of Burket, Indiana, who has preceded her in death and Donald Lamaine Boyer of Mentone, who proceeded her in death in July of 2026, along with her younger sister, Phyllis Elaine Boyer Bennett, of Warsaw, who also preceded her in death in June of 2026.
On July 17, 1954, she married her husband, Lester Burdell Blackburn; they were married for 72 years. This union was blessed with two daughters, Anita Blackburn Snipes, of Warsaw; and Cindy Blackburn Wentz and husband Doug Wentz, of Seymour, Tenn. Also cherishing her memory are six grandchildren: Nathan Snipes and wife Emily, of Evansville; Natalie Snipes Savage and husband Ryan, of Plainfield; Aaron May and wife Kelsey, of Seymour, Tenn.; Shawn Wentz and wife Mary, of Glen Burnie, Md.; Christopher Wentz and wife Sarah, of Jacksonville, Fla.; and Shannon (Wentz) Rodewald and husband Scott, of Warsaw; along with 15 great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandson.
Darlene was a high school graduate from Mentone High School in the class of 1952.
Darlene worked as a telephone operator after high school for a couple of years until she married her husband in 1954. Darlene and her husband Burdell enjoyed Square Dancing for many years with the “Warsaw Squares” where their group went to Minneapolis, Minn., to the National Square Dance Convention. She also worked in retail at W.R.Thomas Store in Warsaw and the W.W. Shoe Village in Winona Lake. She was a member of the Lakeland Art Association from 1989 until 2014, where she enjoyed doing Oil Paintings and Prisma Color Pencil artwork. She loved making special birthday cards with her Prisma colored pencils for family and friends. She also loved spending the winters on the Gulf Coast, in Biloxi, Miss. In 2014, Darlene and her husband relocated to Seymour, Tenn., in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, where she lived until her passing.
Family and friends are welcome to pay their respects at McHatton-Sadler Funeral Chapel, 2290 Provident Court, Warsaw, from 10 a.m. to 11 am. on Aug. 21. The funeral service will immediately follow at 11 a.m. at McHatton-Sadler Funeral Chapel. The graveside services will be held after the funeral service at the Oakwood Cemetery, at 421 N. Maple Ave., Warsaw.