Born to Geraldine (Gerry) Hogan Headman and William Reese Headman on October 28, 1951 in Soda Springs, Caribou County, Idaho. He joined his brother Barry who was born in August the previous year. The marriage was short-lived and Gerry and Reese were divorced in 1952.

In 1954, as a single parent, Gerry met Paul Eugene Bippes, also a single parent of a son, Floyd, and a daughter, Kelle. They knew they had a future together, and they married on Oct. 9, 1954, in Pocatello, Idaho, combining into an instant family of six.

In March 1955, they moved to Farmington, Wash., to work and help manage a farm that Paul's father had purchased situated between Garfield and Farmington. I came along in April, 1956.

The farm was a magical place to grow up - with acres to roam, old barns to explore, minnows, frogs and tadpoles to catch in the crik, as we called it, that ran through the pasture that once existed.

I recall my siblings building a large net out of bailing twine in a local neighbor's barn. You could swing out on a rope from the ceiling and drop into the net - what fun, and pretty cleaver for kids. The fun was short lived though, as they took their little brother with them one day and at dinner that night he spilled the beans about what a good time he had swinging on the rope. This caused some consternation on the part of our parents and the next day my siblings all had to take down the net, haul it to the burn barrels, and told to stay the hell out of the neighbor's barn.

Plenty of work also, and growing up, we all helped - feeding the cattle, pigs and chickens, gathering the eggs, mucking out stalls and milking the cows.

There were crops to be planted in the spring, hay to be put up in the summer and harvest to be completed in the late summer / early fall - then, fall planting. Dad spent a lot of time in the fields and as we got older, if we wanted to spend more time with him, the best way was to work with him. I must have figured that out early as I recall being a barnyard brat from an early age and have the scars and pictures to prove it. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of our half-feral life on the farm.

When Blake was around 10 years old he and his brother Barry would spend part of the summer working on their grandfather Eldred's farm near Bancroft, Idaho - moving irrigation pipes and helping during the haying season and harvest. They would return just before school resumed in the fall.

At Garfield grade school and high school, Blake excelled at baseball and later track where he was best at the high jump and pole vault. He also excelled at typing and bookkeeping which served him well after he joined the US Navy in 1969. In the first few days of boot camp the drill instructor asked the company if anyone could type and organize. Blake raised his hand and was made the company yeoman and his duties had to be completed along with his boot camp training.

After boot camp he was posted to Naval bases in Millington, TN and later Coronado, CA where he was a technician who operated computerized flight simulators for naval pilots in training.

In between boot camp and his first posting to Tennessee he married Cathy McGowan in the fall of 1969 and they had three children, Blake (born March 25, 1970), Clint (born June 17, 1971) and Brandy (born October 13, 1974).

In 1973 Blake was honorably discharged from the Navy and the family moved back to Farmington where Blake wanted to start learning to take over the farm one day. Dad had a hired man at the time so Blake worked for another local farmer for a year or so until dad was once again in need of a hired man in spring of 1975. This was the last season he and I worked together as I enrolled at the University of Idaho in the fall.

Time passed, Blake's marriage dissolved and he moved to Spokane and lived with his brother for a time. At first he worked as a crop damage inspector but that was seasonal and I'm not really sure what he did - perhaps he worked with brother Barry in construction.

In 1977 I realized the university life wasn't a good fit for me so move to Newport, Oregon and worked in house construction. I recall Blake and a friend visited for a few days that fall but for the next several years our interactions were fewer - the business of life and all.

Fast forward to August 1986 - I had been working for a book publishing company since 1979 and we came to a parting of the ways. I moved back to Moscow but couldn't find work in the publishing field so went back to work on the farm the spring of 1987. At that time there were tensions between my parents and Blake so visits were infrequent.

Another fast forward - In 1992 or 1993 my brother wholeheartedly embraced sobriety. If memory serves, mom and dad were busy helping my grandmother at the time so they asked me to drive Blake to the VA treatment facility in Walla Walla, and I was happy to oblige. Thirty days later I picked him up and his next stop was an Oxford House recovery living situation where he found his true calling in life.

For a few years he did volunteer work for the Oxford House organization until he was hired full time as the Eastern Washington Outreach Services Representative where he was in charge of establishing and managing multiple Oxford House self-run, self-supported recovery houses in the eastern half of the state and also including the Coeur d'Alene area. He served with organization until 2013 ish?

With more time on his hands he was able to accompany his mom to Napa Valley, California in 2013 for his niece Amber's wedding to Kenny Planeta and in August 2014 Blake accompanied his mom to Pocatello, Idaho for a Croney family reunion.

In late 2015 our mom became ill and she passed in early February of 2016. After this, Blake and I became closer and took local day trips together - the Emerald Creek garnet area and Palouse Fall being the most memorable. Also, there were numerous fishing trips. Blake lived for fishing and some of my best memories of him are those times together - he was an awesome fishing partner!

In the fall of 2020 I helped him move to Waverly where he resided until July 2022 when he fell and ended up in the hospital. After a few weeks he was transferred to the Avalon Care Center in Pullman where he remained until Spring 2023. He lived independently in an apartment in Palouse where I visited him a few times. He was happy to be living independently again. On Oct. 13 he was found unresponsive on his patio by a neighbor and was taken to Pullman Memorial hospital where he was put on life support. I visited him the following Tuesday but he was still unresponsive. He passed peacefully at 2:00am on Saturday, October 21st.

Blake is survived by his children, Blake E. (Becky), Clinton (Holly) and Brandy (Nathan Lansing); 6 grandchildren - Mariah, Mia, Ahna, Cora, Nola and Iyla. Brothers Floyd (Janet) and Corey and sister Kelle. Niece Amber Planeta (Kenny) and nephew Tony Madden (Amberle). Great nieces Quinn, Riley and Rogan.

Blake was preceded in death by father William Rease Headman, step-father Paul Bippes, mother Gerry Bippes, brother Barry and great-grandson Samuel Paul Bippes.