{"id":37256,"date":"2026-05-05T16:43:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T21:43:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=37256"},"modified":"2026-05-06T16:49:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T21:49:27","slug":"donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\/","title":{"rendered":"Donald Ray &#8220;Don&#8221; Blackford (88) of Olney"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p>Donald \u201cDon\u201d Ray Blackford, age 88 of Olney, passed away on May 3, 2026, at Deaconess Midtown Hospital in Evansville, Indiana.<\/p>\n<p>Don was born on July 6, 1937, at home in rural Richland County, Illinois, the son of Clyde and Ruth (Monts) Blackford. Don married his wife Sandra Jean Wilson on October 6, 1956, and she preceded him in death on May 16, 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Services will be held on Sunday, May 10, 2026, at 2:00 PM at the Meyer Funeral Home in Olney, Illinois. A visitation for family and friends will be held 1 hour prior to services at the funeral home. Private burial will be held at a later time. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Olney Quilts of Valor or Rolling Thunder. Arrangements are under the care of Meyer Funeral Home in Olney. The obituary can be viewed, and condolences left at www.meyerfh.com.<\/p>\n<p>Don was a very generous person, if there was a neighbor or friend that needed help, he was there and willing to give. When you would see Don in public you would notice him by his Cowboy Hat, his boots and his King Edward Cigars. Don worked as welder and machinist for many years and retired from Bill\u2019s Machine Shop in Olney. Don loved and was very proud of his farm where he raised horses and beef cattle. One knew when they got to his farm as you would first see his Boot Fence, he had several old pairs of Cowboy boots on top of the fence posts that lined his property. Don belonged to the White Squirrell Saddle Club for several years. He owned, rode and traded several horses over the years. When his grandchildren, nieces and nephews came around he taught them to drive his tractors. Don and his wife Sandra enjoyed their life together, raising their daughters and traveling together in their later years, with their favorite places being Nashville, Tennessee and Florida. They both enjoyed Square Dancing and went with friends to many dances over several years. Don proudly served his country by joining the United States Army where he served in Korea after the war, helping to rebuild and with the peace keeping efforts. Don belonged to the Eagles and the VFW.<\/p>\n<p>Don is survived by: daughters; Amy (Daniel) Ramsey of Indianapolis, Indiana and Bobbi Blackford of Olney, Illinois; honorary son; Billy Taylor of Harrisburg, Illinois; grandchildren; Tyler (Jenna) Blackford, Danielle Blackford, Logan (Payton) Ramsey, Caleb Ramsey; and great-grandchildren; Griffin, Owen, Eli and Jade; and brothers; Larry (Pat) Blackford of Olney, Illinois and Wayne Blackford of Olney, Illinois.<\/p>\n<p>Don was preceded in death by his parents, wife Sandra Jean, brothers Jim and Roy, sisters Alberta and Mary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Donald \u201cDon\u201d Ray Blackford, age 88 of Olney, passed away on May 3, 2026, at Deaconess Midtown Hospital in Evansville, Indiana. Don was born on July 6, 1937, at home [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":37364,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-obits"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Donald Ray &quot;Don&quot; Blackford (88) of Olney - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Donald Ray &quot;Don&quot; Blackford (88) of Olney - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-05T21:43:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-06T21:49:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Blackford-Pic-2.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1187\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1307\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Greg Sapp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Greg Sapp\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Greg Sapp\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1\"},\"headline\":\"Donald Ray &#8220;Don&#8221; Blackford (88) of Olney\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-05T21:43:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-06T21:49:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":446,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/Blackford-Pic-2.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Obituaries\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\\\/\",\"name\":\"Donald Ray \\\"Don\\\" Blackford (88) of Olney - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/Blackford-Pic-2.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-05T21:43:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-06T21:49:27+00:00\",\"description\":\"Effingham's News and Sports Leader\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/Blackford-Pic-2.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/Blackford-Pic-2.jpeg\",\"width\":1187,\"height\":1307},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Donald Ray &#8220;Don&#8221; Blackford (88) of Olney\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/premier-logo-v1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/premier-logo-v1.png\",\"width\":272,\"height\":69,\"caption\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1\",\"name\":\"Greg Sapp\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/author\\\/greg_sapp\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Donald Ray \"Don\" Blackford (88) of Olney - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Donald Ray \"Don\" Blackford (88) of Olney - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","og_description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","og_url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\/","og_site_name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","article_published_time":"2026-05-05T21:43:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-06T21:49:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1187,"height":1307,"url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Blackford-Pic-2.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Greg Sapp","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Greg Sapp","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\/"},"author":{"name":"Greg Sapp","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1"},"headline":"Donald Ray &#8220;Don&#8221; Blackford (88) of Olney","datePublished":"2026-05-05T21:43:17+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-06T21:49:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\/"},"wordCount":446,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Blackford-Pic-2.jpeg","articleSection":["Obituaries"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\/","name":"Donald Ray \"Don\" Blackford (88) of Olney - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Blackford-Pic-2.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-05-05T21:43:17+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-06T21:49:27+00:00","description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Blackford-Pic-2.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Blackford-Pic-2.jpeg","width":1187,"height":1307},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/37256-donald-ray-don-blackford-88-of-olney\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Donald Ray &#8220;Don&#8221; Blackford (88) of Olney"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/","name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization","name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/premier-logo-v1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/premier-logo-v1.png","width":272,"height":69,"caption":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1","name":"Greg Sapp","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/author\/greg_sapp\/"}]}},"modified_by":"Greg Sapp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37256"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37367,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37256\/revisions\/37367"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}