Jennifer Elaine (Graham) Blachura

Stevensville - Jennifer Elaine Blachura, 59, of Stevensville passed away Sunday morning, July 10th, 2022, at home, surrounded by her loving family. Jennifer was born on September 17th, 1962, in San Jose, CA to Harold (Hal) and Anita Graham. Jennifer’s Dad worked for Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E). They lived in San Jose, CA before settling down in Yuba City, CA. Jennifer loved her family! Her parents raised her to always include not just their immediate family but their large extended family of aunts, uncles and cousins when celebrating birthdays and holidays. While growing up Jennifer was especially close to her cousins Butch Amstutz and Mike D’Amico. In Yuba City Jennifer met 3 girls in 6th grade that would become her life-long friends: Janis Shingu Perrucci, Lyn Wright Van Tighem and Denise Burnthon Dias. As Janis put it, “The four of us were always getting into trouble!” Unfortunately, it was impossible to get any specific details from either of them. After graduating from Yuba City High School in 1980, Jennifer followed her sister Karen’s lead and joined the U.S. Army in December 1980. This adventure took her to Fort Sam Houston, TX for Basic Combat Training, Presidio of San Francisco, CA for Advanced Individual Training and then Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, HI as an Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist for over three years. She loved working in the medical field, and this would be the beginning of a lifelong passion of helping people. Before arriving in Hawaii, she married Shawn Allison. She gave birth to Kenneth Allison, the first of her four boys, while stationed in Hawaii. After leaving the Army in December 1984, Jennifer returned to California joining the Army National Guard as a parttime Army Medic in an Aviation Battalion in Stockton, CA where she was promoted to Sergeant E-5. She continued her passion of helping people by working fulltime as a Medical Assistant for a prominent pediatrician, and later for a dermatologist. They welcomed the birth of their second son Andrew Allison in 1987. After a time, Jennifer found herself as a single mother of two boys working two jobs to make ends meet. In 1992, Jennifer met Mike Blachura, a Captain and helicopter pilot who had recently moved back to Stockton, CA. The two of them immediately “Hit it Off,” and after a short two year romance were married in Lake Tahoe, CA on January 1st, 1995. They would move to Galt, CA where they would add two more boys to the family; Michael Blachura II and Thomas Blachura. They would live in Galt, CA until shortly after Mike’s retirement in 2005. In 2006, ever the loving caregiver, Jennifer and Mike decided that she, Michael II and Thomas should move to Montana so she could help her dad and brother take care of their mother, Anita, who was suffering from a rare Parkinson-type disease. Initially, this was supposed to be a temporary move, but they would quickly fall in love with the Bitterroot Valley, the rivers, Stevensville and the wonderful people of Western Montana. Mike was still working in California when they would meetup on a short vacation together and Jennifer and the boys informed Mike that they “would never move back to California!” Very soon after Mike quit his job in California and moved to Stevensville to be with his family. After her mother’s passing in 2007, Jennifer continued helping people by working in Home Health Care while raising their boys with Mike. Their days were busy with the boy’s school events i.e., Choir concerts, Speech and Debate, Little League games and High School Football games. On the weekends the boys would have their friends over for all night LAN parties and Dungeons and Dragons. Jennifer really loved being a mom. Jennifer was first given the dreadful news that she had Stage 3 Breast Cancer in May 2012. After only a couple of days to ponder the impact of this life altering disease, she made the decision to have a double mastectomy, radiation and chemotherapy. After she was told she was most likely cancer free, she was placed on a medication regiment which included regular follow up appointments and exams which all pointed towards remission. In June 2017, after experiencing some difficulty breathing, she was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. She was admitted to the hospital for treatment and extensive scans when determined her cancer was back with a vengeance. She now had Stage 4 Metastatic Breast Cancer that had spread to her bones. Although this was terrible news, she was determined to keep fighting. She looked at each yearly calendar and created goals: each child and grandchild’s birthday, Christmas, Thanksgiving and Mother’s Day all were goals to be here for. She wanted her legacy to be that of a loving Mother and Nana that her children and grandchildren would always remember. Her wonderful Doctors, Nurses and medical staff from Providence St. Patrick Hospital would provide her with the resources, tools, even medicinal weapons against her enemy: Cancer. She fought hard for years with an amazing inner strength but after 10 plus years of wearing her down it was finally time to rest. Jennifer is survived by her husband and best friend of over 30 years, as well as her fulltime caregiver, Michael Blachura SR of Stevensville; her sons, Kenneth Allison of Bigfork; Andrew Allison, Michael Blachura II, and Thomas Blachura all of Stevensville; her grandchildren: Macy Hall of Dickinson, ND; Dallon, Kenzie, Kolby and Abigail Allison all of Bigfork; Carter Blachura of Stevensville, MT; her brother Mark (Nancy) Graham of Folsom, CA; her sister Karen Graham of Stevensville, MT and her brother Colton (Deb) Graham of Florence, MT; Kandi Allison, Daughter-in-law; and numerous loving Aunts, Uncles, Nieces and Nephews from California. Jennifer is preceded in death by both of her parents, Harold and Anita Graham. Visitation for Jennifer will be held at 2pm preceding the memorial service. A memorial service will be held Wednesday, July 27th at 3pm at Whitesitt Funeral Home, 314 Church Street, Stevensville, MT 59870. Our family could not be more grateful for the wonderful care Jennifer received from her Doctors, Hospice Nurses and staff over the last 10 plus years: Dr Sarah Scott and Dr Margaret Menendez, Montana Cancer Center at Providence St. Patrick Hospital; Dr Bradley Berry, Providence International Heart Institute; Dr Carla Davis and Hospice Nurse Mikelle - Partners in Home Care and all the staff that came to the house taking care of Jennifer regularly. Jennifer had a special place in her heart for cats and dogs sheltered at the Humane Society of Western Montana. She was constantly fostering stray, pregnant cats and then raising their litter of kittens until they were old enough to be adopted. If you feel inclined to make a donation of any sort in Jennifer’s name, please make it to either your local Humane Society or to the Susan G. Komen ® Foundation.

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