Scott Howard Blackburn

Scott Blackburn, son of the late Gene and Sylvia Blackburn and brother to Susan, was born December 31, 1959, in Chicago, Illinois. While attending Northern Illinois University in July 1980, Scott and his best friend John headed to Wisconsin Dells for fun and relaxation. There he met Angela Kawecki, and five months later on December 13,1980 they were married in her hometown of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

Scott documented the first 28 years of married life in an assignment paper he titled “Life is an Adventure”. That was certainly not the end of our family adventure!

In March 2012 we left Washington State for a final move to Florida to care for Scott’s dad. In Nov 2013 we started AlaCarte Property Services, LLC, a business focused on home remodeling and landscaping. We bought a 5-acre farm in Brooksville, FL as a base of operations for our thriving business serving residential and commercial customers over the next 8 years.

As early signs of Scott’s illness became more evident, we retired the business and sold the farm in 2021. During the insane real estate market, we were fortunate to purchase a home under construction in the Hernando Oaks subdivision. In March 2022 we moved into our new home in which Scott peacefully passed away on January 30, 2026.

Scott leaves behind his wife Angela, son Geoffrey and two grandchildren, Delilah and Christopher.

Rest in Peace, we miss you very much.

Life is an Adventure

Written by Scott Blackburn in 2008

I would like to share with you my life adventure. William

Feather said:

“One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as

an adventure!”

I believe I have lived these words!

I grew up on the south side of Chicago and participated in many extra-curricular activities each with its own unique experience. These included baseball, tennis, golf and sailing to name a few. Sailing, by far, I loved the most! We had a sailboat on Lake Michigan, where my dad taught me to sail. One of my fondest memories!

I think my first major challenge in life, like many other teenagers, was leaving home and going to college. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life let alone a career. Everything worked out for the best and I graduated with an Electrical Engineering degree and later in my career I earned a Master's Degree in Business

Management.

I was recruited out of college and offered a design engineer position with Alliant Techsystems, formerly known as Honeywell Undersea Systems Division in Minnesota. Let’s just say we designed and manufactured “THINGS” for the US Navy. I stayed with the company for 12 yrs when I decided to take a voluntary

layoff.

While in college I met my wife of 28 yrs, on a vacation to the Wisconsin Dells. For those of you not familiar with the Dells, it is your typical Wisconsin tourist trap, but in a good way. My wife and I met at Nigs Bar, she was there with her girl friends

on vacation and I was with my best friend John. We hit it off and 7 months later we were married and moved into my parents basement for 2.5 yrs until I finished college.

Little did we know when I accepted my first job it was the start of our cross-country adventure that has lasted 25 yrs and still going strong. My wife and I traded 1following each other’s career. During the first part of our marriage my wife followed me and then I followed her. Here is a short synopsis of our moves

around the country. We started from our apartment in Rolling Meadows, IL and moved into my parent’s basement on the south side of Chicago, next we moved to our first house in Maple Grove, MN, from there to 10 acres in Minnetrista, MN; then my transfer to Mukilteo, WA! From there I followed my wife’s career to Agua

Dulce, CA (outside of LA); then to San Martin, CA (outside of San Jose); next to Malvern, PA (outside of Philly), then to Sewickley, PA (outside of Pittsburgh- Go Steelers!), then we moved back here to Sammamish, WA. Whew!!! If this was not an adventure, I don’t know what is! To state the obvious, we are Masters at move coordination!

During our time in Minnesota there was a very important experience we went through. After nine years of fertility treatments, the ups and downs of trying to adopt a child overseas, we were blessed with a newborn baby boy. We received a phone call from my parents, who lived in Florida, indicating someone from their

church knew of a woman who wanted to give up her unborn child for adoption. We dropped everything and were on the next plane to Florida. The next day we met the birth mom and a few days later she gave birth. We were with her in the hospital and my wife was the first to hold our son in the delivery room. Within 10 days of our son’s birth, he went to Bush Gardens and Disney World before flying home to Minnesota. WHAT AN ADVENTURE!!!

When I decided to take a voluntary layoff from my job, I did it to become a stay-at- home dad. I never thought this would become part of my career history. This has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done and certainly the biggest life change I’ve had. It feels like I have 200 part-time jobs all at once. Talk about multi- tasking! WOW!

During the third grade our son was diagnosed with Dyslexia, a learning difference. This changed our lives. At this point we knew that his education would be an uphill battle and this was going to be my primary focus. After many years of hard work and many ups and downs, we could see improvement. It was like someone

flipping on a light switch. All the years of hard work were finally paying off. The whole process we went through and continue to monitor was not easy. It was like baking a cake. If you follow the proven recipe, you’re almost guaranteed it will turn out OK. This is similar to what we went through with our son. We were finding all the correct ingredients and correct recipe that would make our son successful given his learning differences. Our son has flourished by

following his own recipe. He just graduated from high school, and his goal is to become a Special Education Teacher. Currently, he will be taking classes a Bellevue College and wants to transfer to the University of Florida within 2 yrs.

Finally, as I gave you some of the small details of my life I hope you agree that life is an adventure if you want it to be. I would like to challenge each of you to “Imagine the Possibilities” in your life and make it an adventure. As John Lennon said,

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”