It’s goodbye to one of the area’s best known and loved pastors

By Cloann McNall

  The Weippe community and surrounding area will soon say goodbye to one of the best-known and loved families when the Rev. Don Blain’s resignation from the Weippe Wesleyan Church becomes effective Dec. 1 after 25 years of service.

  Blain and his wife, Patty, are moving to Rapid City, SD to be near his parents, Elmore and Phyllis Blain, as Elmore has been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease.

  A farewell potluck dinner will be held at 12:30 Sunday noon, Nov. 20 at the Weippe Wesleyan Church. Another farewell dinner will be held at the church after services on Thanksgiving Sunday, Nov. 27 when the couple’s four sons are present.

  A search committee has been established to find a new pastor for the church. During the Blains’ years of pastoral service the church experienced a successful and thriving youth ministry.

  In announcing his resignation Rev. Blain said in part. “over the past 25 years it has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as Pastor of the Weippe Wesleyan Church.” He resigned Sept. 25 after pastoring the church for 25 years.

  Patty has resigned her position as a teacher in the Timberline schools where she has taught for the past eight years. She plans to pursue a teaching position when they move to Rapid City.

  Blain said “I will be moving Blain Construction to Rapid City with me.” Blain Construction is a local business he established and operated here the past several years.

  He said he has been approached about pastoring another church in the Rapid City area but at this time he has no plans to pastor another church.

  During their 25 years as pastor of the Weippe church. Patty and Don raised their four sons, Tom, Josh, Andrew and Austin all graduates of Timberline High School where they received publicity for their scholastic and athletic achievements.

  Tom graduated in 2002, Josh in 2004, Andrew in 2009 and Austin in 2010.

  Tom, a graduate of Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, who worked here in Blain Construction with his father, is employed in Bartlesville, OK where he moved this year to be near his brothers, Andrew and Austin, both students at Oklahoma Wesleyan University (OWU) in Bartlesville.

  Andrew, a junior at OWU is majoring in physical education and is the intramural director at OWU. He hopes to be on a church plant team in Bozeman, MT this summer.

  Austin is a sophomore at OWU where he is a ministry major and hopes to go to Asia this summer on a church plant team.

  Josh and his wife, Ashley, who met at OWU are pastoring at the Eternal Hope Wesleyan Church in Kooskia where Ashley teaches English at Clearwater Valley High School. Josh was ordained as an Elder in the Wesleyan Church this past July.

  Don and Patty have purchased a home in Rapid City, which has a population of around 100,000. He said “I won’t be walking two blocks to church and leaving the house unlocked there like I did here.”

  “Weippe is an incredible place to live and work. There is no better community to raise four boys,” Don said. “We have been blessed by the community and the schools.” he added.

  He said the fact he pastored the Weippe church for 25 years, after replacing Gene and Bonnie Whetstone who pastored there 17 years makes a positive statement about the church.

  The Whetstones are retired and reside in Lewiston.

  Don said their new home is eight miles out of Rapid City and is close to Mt. Rushmore, Lead and Deadwood, SD where Black Hills Gold is mined.

  He said when at their new home recently their dog Quiver was chasing a ball and a deer grabbed the ball. That’s how tame the deer are there, he added.

  “It’s hard to leave Weippe but it’s time for us to move on,” Don concluded.

  (Editor’s Note: It’s difficult to have the Blain family move as our ties go back to years of association in Colorado and Oklahoma through the Wesleyan Church. I wish the best for Don, Patty and their sons.) CM