SEQUIM — In physical stature as much as plentiful spirit, Steve Blenk was too big a man to successfully hide his light under a bushel.
He was the supersized guy who could silence a room with a single rumble of his booming voice.
He was the Scoutmaster who spearheaded an annual holiday-season blanket-and-food drive in Sequim.
He was a successful woodcrafter with a home-based business who didn’t sell his wares locally but whose work was renowned worldwide.
“He was famous for not being famous,” said Blenk’s 13-year-old son, Robbie.
“He was well-known, but the people he knew didn’t know he was well-known because he didn’t try to be.
“He affected a lot of people, and a lot of people affected him.”
That’s probably why more than 400 people packed St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Sequim on Monday afternoon to say goodbye to Stephen Henry Blenk.
“It tells me something I already knew about what an influential and magnificent person he was,” said Blenk’s wife, Susan.
Killed on Highway 101
Blenk, 48, was killed Nov. 24 when his pickup truck collided head-on with a dump truck that had crossed the center line heading eastbound on U.S. Highway 101 west of Carlsborg.
Robbie, his sole passenger, suffered a broken right wrist and multiple abrasions.
The driver of the dump truck, Kevin B. Dewey of Sequim, suffered minor injuries.
No citations have been issued yet in the incident, and a Washington State Patrol spokesman said Monday night that the investigation is continuing.
