Ronceverte-William Butler “Bill” Blake, IV, 65, passed away Thursday, June 8, 2017, at Mapleshire Nursing Center in Morgantown.
Bill was born Feb. 25, 1952, in Ronceverte, a son of Virginia Lee Butler Blake and the late Norman Bradbury Blake.
As a child he was a Cub Scout, Boy Scout and achieved the God and Country Award, one of the highest honors a Scout can receive. He was also a member of the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation, where he served as acolyte and crucifier for ten years. For most of his life, Bill was an avid music fan and musician. At a very young age, he and four other youngsters formed a band called The Cobras, later to be known as The Nightwalkers. After high school, the band went their separate ways and Bill and some college friends established a band called The BC Dasher Blues Band.
Bill attended Marshall University in Huntington, where he joined a Pre-Law Group, and they attended seminars on International Relations at the United Nations Building in New York City. He then transferred to WVU, where he graduated with a BA degree in Political Science. After graduation, Bill had to make a big decision on life: whether to go on to law school or to pursue a career in music, which was his real passion. He chose music. In 1976, he founded and produced The Skyline Bluegrass Festival at his family’s farm on a mountain overlooking Ronceverte. Bill was able to book well-known performers/entertainers such as Bill Monroe, John Hartford, Doc Watson and the Putnam County Pickers, of which the now famous Kathy Mattea was a member.
Surviving him, other than his mother, are: sister, Beverly B. Boswell of Ronceverte; nephews, Troy L. Boswell and wife Shannon of Ronceverte and C. Brad Boswell of San Diego, CA; and great- niece, Brooke A. Boswell of Carbonado, WA.
A memorial service will be held Tuesday, June 13, at 2 p.m. at the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation in Ronceverte, with Rev. Betsy Walker and Rev. Stephen Baldwin officiating.
Flowers are welcome and the family asks that sympathy donations be made to the WVU Cancer Center in Blake’s memory or to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown.
Wallace & Wallace Funeral Home in Ronceverte is in charge of arrangements. Please send online condolences by visiting www.WallaceandWallaceFH.com.
