Angella Alekseyevna Blankenship, 57, of Greenville, died on Sunday, April 24, 2022, at Bria of Cahokia.
Graveside services will be conducted Thursday, May 26, beginning at 11 a.m. at Mt. Moriah Cemetery in Greenville with Father John Pawelchak officiating. Assalley-Young Funeral Home in Greenville is assisting the family.
Mrs. Blankenship was born April 7, 1965, in Vladmir, Russia, to Aleksy and Tatyana (Blinovskaya) Sidorov. She married Richard Blankenship on Aug. 23, 1996, in Bloomington-Normal, and he survives.
She grew up in Vladimir, Russia and came to the U.S. in 1990 with a “sister city” program through the Illinois State University (ISU).
Mrs. Blankenship had already attained one master’s degree in Russia and continued her education at ISU, gaining a second master’s degree, as well as a doctorate degree.
While in graduate school, she met her future husband, who described her as the sweetest girl in the world, brilliant and could do anything she put her mind to. They married and eventually made their way back to Greenville in 2009. They lived in town for a few years before moving out to their property west of town.
During her career, Mrs. Blankenship was a professor, and a great believer in education, who taught at ISU and the University of Missouri.
In addition to her husband, she is survived by her parents; sons, Nikita (wife Olivia Walder) Sorokin of Tujunga, CA, and Samuel Blankenship of Champaign; and a sister, Anastasia Higher of Vladimir, Russia.
Online condolences to the family may be left at www.assalleyfuneralhomes.com.
