Blackburn tells his story
by Bill Choy
Chuck Blackburn jogged down memories from his unique childhood onto paper and a new book, “Kneebockers,” is the result.
Blackburn is a longtime local resident and is well known in the community as a former teacher, coach, county supervisor and the current radio voice for Del Norte High School football and boys basketball games on K-POD.
Blackburn said the book is not so much an autobiography as it is “a series of adventures in life.”
“I needed to get all of this off my heart and put it into writing,” he said.
Blackburn said the recently released book is available on the Internet through Amazon and Xlibris, which published “Kneebockers.”
He will have a book signing next Saturday, Nov. 15, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Del Norte Office Supply.
The book presents the recollections of Blackburn, 72, that begin during his childhood, when he moved from New York state with his father to Reno, Nev., when he was 10.
The title of the book is a nickname given to him by another boy at his two-room schoolhouse in Reno, likely based on what he was wearing at the time.
“Kneebockers may be a name; but as I have matured as a person, I know that it is also a spirit, a drive, an energy, a way of life,” Blackburn writes in his book. “It fits all that my dad taught me over the years and all that I learned myself through life’s maze.”
Blackburn said a vital part of the book is about life lessons he learned from his father and the experiences they shared together.
“Wes Blackburn, my father, was my mentor, my rock, and my inspiration in a lifetime of experiencing how to really live and appreciate each and every day,” Blackburn wrote in his description of the book on the Xlibris Web site.
Blackburn said it was important for him to put down in words the life experiences he has had and what his father, who died in 1976, taught him.
“He taught me the value of life and how to survive, how to be honest,” Blackburn said.
He hopes the book will inspire others and is something he is proud to have done that he can pass on to his children and grandchildren.
Memories recalled in the book include Blackburn prospecting with his dad in the desert and mountains while not seeing another human being for days.
“The deer, coyotes, rabbits, eagles, hawks, and buzzards became our company,” Blackburn wrote in his Xlibris description. “It was there that I began to discover who I could be on this earth and what I could learn about the earth. My classroom was nature, and the first topic was history. Prospecting was a vehicle for turning back the clock to the 1800s. Standing in an old mine with all of its strange tools still sitting intact against the tunnel wall due to the preservation of the dry desert air was more than just a reminder of days long ago. These desert experiences formed a foundation for other exciting adventures that are a part of Kneebockers’s life.”
“Kneebockers” also covers how Blackburn got to Del Norte County, his time as a fishing guide on the Klamath, and his high school and college years as a golfer.
Blackburn said he thought for years about writing a book on his life, but did not get around to it.
With the encouragement of his wife, Missy, he began writing the book in 2006 on a vacation in Kauai.
On Easter Sunday 2007, Blackburn suffered a massive heart attack at home in Big Flat. He said that experience made him want to complete the book even more and when he started to feel better he began the task of finishing it.
Blackburn said he wrote the book down on paper and thanked Crescent City resident Sherrie Potter for typing it up and for editing the book as well. He said her contributions were “invaluable.”
Blackburn is already in the middle of writing another book. It will pick up where “Kneebockers” left off and will tell about more experiences and adventures in his life.
Currently, Blackburn is in the middle of writing about his experience in helping to search for the shipwreck of the Brother Jonathan, a paddle steamer that crashed on an uncharted rock near Point St. George and sank in 1865.
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