Eileen D. Blakeman

It is with great sadness that the friends and family of Eileen Kerr (Gibson) Blakeman announce her sudden passing after a brief illness on Saturday August 3rd, 2019. She is the wife of Phillips Van Cleve Blakeman of East Sandwich, MA and of Joshua Tree, CA.

She was born on May 11, 1944 in Willowdale, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She graduated from school there and then worked at various jobs between Toronto and Quebec from Kouts Hallmark Cards to a plastics company, Canadian Industries Limited.

She and Jonathan F Kerr married in Auckland, New Zealand in 1972 and then lived near Sydney, Australia for six years, he as a V P of Mistral Plastics, and then to Chicago, Ill., and finally to East Sandwich where they divorced in 1986.

Eileen and John Harrison Baldwin, a professional diver, married in 1991 and divorced in 1996.

Eileen and Van met in 1996 and married in the Cataumet Methodist Church on March 25, 2001.

Eileen, a published author, was also gifted as a talented interior decorator, a quilter, and she even mastered the art of the spinning wheel using the wool that was sheared from her sheep. She was once invited to demonstrate her talent in period costume at the Benjamin Nye Museum.

Eileen was a ‘lady farmer’ who had sheep, goats and chickens while her children were young. They also split, tied and sold fatwood kindling bundles as a family business.

From 2003 to the present she owned and operated a consignment shop, “Twin Gables”, in her barn and sold beautiful pieces loved by many for her great taste and good prices. Prior to that she sold new ‘8-Way Hand Tied’ North Carolina sofas and associated furniture out of her barn. In between these businesses she managed Gladstone Furniture in Falmouth, MA.

Eileen and Van spent winters in Joshua Tree up in the high desert of southern California, while spending summers at their home on the Cape.

She wrote six books of poetry and prose about her experiences in Joshua Tree and on the Cape, and interesting insightful thoughts about her daily meanderings through life. They were:

“My Life in a Barn” (2012)

“My Thoughts and Sayings from the Desert and the Cape” (2012)

“Seeds Through the Air” (2013)

“Bells with Wings” (2014)

“Running with Sunbeams” (2015)

“Smile through the Clouds” (2018)

These books are available through her website: www.blakeman.net/_EI/Page/EileensBooks.php

Eileen will be remembered for her natural beauty, her kindness, gentle laughter and always greeting everyone with her sweet smile and open hearted spirit. She was literally loved by all who knew her.

Besides her husband Van, she is survived by a son Jody F Kerr and his wife Tiffany and their three children: Tanith, Jensen and Ellie of Washington state; a daughter Sarah E Kerr; and by two stepdaughters Darby D Blakeman and Brianny Blakeman Hall with husband Andrew and their daughter Aubri of Cotuit, MA.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations in her name to the Morongo Basin Humane Society, PO Box 1234, Joshua Tree, CA 92252.