Blanton Jr., Lyde D. FLORENCE -MULLINS-DILLON- Lyde Daniel Blanton, Jr., 61, died Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2005, at his residence after an extended illness. Funeral services will be 2 p.m., Friday, Feb. 11, in Waters-Powell Funeral Home Chapel. Burial will follow in Mount Hope Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 7 to 9 p.m. today at the funeral home. He was born in Mullins, a son of Audrey Foxworth Blanton and the late Lyde Daniel Blanton Sr. He graduated from Kingstree High School and the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science. He also served in the National Guard. He was a retired funeral director and former owner of Blanton Funeral Home in Dillon. After his retirement, he was a salesman with Security Link, where he was awarded Top Salesman for the state of South Carolina on many occasions. He was a member of First Baptist Church in Florence. He was a former member and past president of the South Carolina Funeral Directors Association. He was also a member of the Florence Shag Club. Survivors, in addition to his mother of Garden City, include his wife, Laney Cogburn Blanton of the home; a daughter and her husband, Laura B. and Dr. David Clark of Raleigh, N.C.; a son and his wife, Lyde Whitaker Whit and Shirlene Blanton of Florence; a brother, William Foxworth Blanton of Colorado; and four grandchildren, Kristen Britt, Whitney Blanton, David Allan Clark Jr. and Thomas Whitaker Clark. Memorials may be made to the First Baptist Church Benevolence Fund, 300 S. Irby St., Florence, SC 29501; or to the American Cancer Society, 950 48th Ave. N., Suite 101, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577. submitted by Helen Lane Wiggins