Lynne Elaine Blahnik

Lynne was known as an activist for social justice and environmental issues in many parts of the country, including St. Petersburg, Florida, where she spent a decade working as a community organizer for the American Friends Service Committee. She earned a BA degree in communications at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

Lynne also was an advocate for sustainable community agriculture. She worked for the North American Farm Alliance in Ames, Iowa, and Covert, Michigan, as an organizer and newsletter editor. She was a founding executive director for the Michigan Organic Growers Advancement Project.

Throughout her life, Lynne was known to her family, friends and neighbors for her deeply felt love of nature. She spent many years creating beautiful gardens. She also helped preserve natural habitats for animals and birds. Growing up in Coloma, her hometown in southwest Michigan, Lynne knew the names of every plant, flower and tree that grew in the lush woodlands there. She spent innumerable days exploring the sand dunes that line the shore of Lake Michigan. She could frequently be seen fishing and swimming in nearby Paw Paw Lake, just a stone’s throw from the back door of her family’s home.

Lynne treasured her memories and friends from the many opportunities she had to travel. She frequently crisscrossed the country on Amtrak train routes, especially on the Southwest Chief from Chicago to Albuquerque and Los Angeles. In the summer of 1983, Lynne organized a bus caravan of Florida residents who rode overnight to D.C. to participate in the 20th anniversary commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 March on Washington.

She explored Alaska. She flew to Jamaica for reggae concerts. She went to the Badlands in South Dakota. She traveled extensively throughout Florida, especially along the Gulf Coast. She went to Montana, and to the Oregon mountains and seacoast. She travelled throughout Arizona, exploring desert landscapes and surrounding mountains from Tucson to Flagstaff. She stood along the South Rim of the Grand Canyon at sunset. She went to the Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina, to the coast of Maine, to Vermont, Boston, and New York City. She went camping in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, once braving a midnight encounter with a foraging bear.

Lynne was fearless and adventurous. She was never afraid to speak her mind. She will be greatly missed.

Lynne is survived by her husband, Ed Marks; and by her much beloved daughter, Šárka Marks Blahnik. Lynne was preceded in death by her mother, Jean Blahnik; by her father, Ted Blahnik; and by her two brothers, Mark and Bruce Blahnik.

A memorial service is being planned for this summer. Please make donations in memory of Lynne to The Ehlers-Danlos Society at the following link:

https://www.ehlers-danlos.com/donate/

To share a photo, a story, or other memories about Lynne, or to receive notification when memorial service arrangements are complete, please click on the Neptune Society link below:

https://neptunesociety.com/obituaries/albuquerque-nm/lynne-blahnik-12277484