Miriam (Thompson) Blake

Miriam McCord Thompson Blake died on September 16, 2024, at her home in Silver Spring, Maryland. At the time of her death, her husband Waldo, daughter Allison, and trusted caregiver Mackedia Morgan were with her, holding her hands and softly singing her favorite songs as she peacefully passed away.

Miriam loved the green hills and mountains of West Virginia and Virginia, an inspiration that threaded through her life.

She was born on December 16, 1932, in Houston, TX, to Lelia Dorothy and John Murray Thompson, the third of their five daughters.

At that time, her father was advancing his education at Rice Institute, now Rice University. A year later they moved to California, where Miriam’s father completed his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1937, the family moved to Silver Spring, MD, where Miriam grew up.

She attended Montgomery County and Washington, DC primary and secondary schools, graduating from Montgomery Blair High School before going on to major in English literature at American University where she earned her B.A. She was an active and accomplished student who, among other achievements, was vice president of her senior class and homecoming queen.

She met M. Waldo Blake the week after she turned 20 and married him on December 30, 1955. The couple was devoted to one another throughout their long lives, a love that continues.

In January 1957 the pair took assignments in Asuncion, Paraguay, where Miriam taught fourth and fifth grade in The American School. They returned to the U.S. in the spring of 1958, where Miriam began her life as a mother and homemaker with the birth of their first son. The family lived in Bluefield, WV, St. Louis, MO, then Charleston, WV for 14 years before returning to Silver Spring in 1974.

For many years, Miriam was part of Camp Appalachia, a summer camp for girls near Hot Springs, VA that her family bought in 1944. As a girl she was a camper and a counselor; as an adult she served as office manager, assistant director, and in many other roles without titles.

Throughout her adult life Miriam also was involved in the arts, whether as a talented seamstress, a painter or a poet. In the 1980s she established a business called “Yesterday, Today,” making and dealing in beautiful quilts – which she loved – or creating quilted jackets and other fabric art. She regularly set up at craft fairs throughout the region for many years. She also received recognition from the National Library of Poetry for Outstanding Achievement in Poetry, and published “From My Window,” which she wrote in Paraguay.

Miriam will always be remembered as a vibrant, active, loving wife, mother and friend to many who cherished her Blue Ridge Mountains.

She is survived by her husband of nearly 69 years, Minor Waldo Blake of Silver Spring; son Jamie (Brenda), of Doylestown, PA; daughter Melissa Miriam Rust (Michael) of Frederick, MD; daughter Dorothy Allison (Joshua) of Worton, MD; and son Murray of Richmond, VA; four grandchildren, and five great grandchildren.

A memorial service at for Miriam will be held Saturday, September 28, 2024 at 11:30 AM at Oakdale Church, 3425 Emory Church Road, Olney, Maryland 20832, followed by a catered reception in the church fellowship hall at 12:30 PM. Interment private.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Miriam’s memory may be made to the Christian Appalachian Project, 485 Ponderosa Drive, Paintsville, KY 41240