BKAE WEISSER
1919-2022
Hallelujah! That’s what Blake Weisser wants people to say when they hear she died. All together now, HALLELUJAH!
Blake Weisser was a woman with many names. Her parents, Guy Roy and Jessie Maude (Johnson), named her Gladys Irene Blake when she was born on the 15th of May 1919, in Oklahoma City. When her little brother arrived, she became Sister to everyone in her immediate and extended family for the rest of their lives. The drought, depression, and Dust Bowl were difficult years. Her family’s experience left her deeply concerned for the homeless and the hungry. She got a new name – Mickey – in high school.
Mickey married Charlie Hardesty and they had two daughters, Valerie Lu and Judith Anne. Charlie joined the Army during World War II and became Chuck. Mickey and Chuck moved to southern Japan in 1947 and made many new friends. They nourished those friendships with letters and later phone calls as they moved to Kansas, Texas, North Carolina, and Germany in 1957. In Japan and Europe, they traveled extensively as a family seeing ancient ruins, experiencing other cultures, and internalizing the devastation of modern war.
Mickey and Chuck returned to Texas in the ‘60s. With the arrival of the next generation, Mickey chose to be “Grandmickey” to her grandchildren and “Aunt Mickey” to her nieces and nephews. Mickey’s life changed more in the later
‘60s when she and Chuck divorced. She wanted a new name for her new life. She chose Blake Hardesty and pursued a career in real estate in Houston.
At the same time, she reached out to the homeless by helping them write cards to long-lost relatives. At times all she had was a card table and two chairs on the sidewalk with her cards, a pen, stamps, and a welcoming smile. People were grateful for her pre-internet efforts and thrilled when they received responses.
Blake worked with Exxon transfers to Houston and met the charming Canadian, Gordon Weisser. She always joked about “picking him up” on a street corner. Gordon was as determined to marry Blake as she was intent to remain a single, career woman. It took a few years, but he prevailed and Blake changed her name again. Now, she was Blake Weisser.
With Gordon teaching geophysicists, he and Blake traveled the world. Every teaching contract opened another part of the globe for them. At home they had an RV called “The Nest” that they used to explore the United States and visit family and friends. Another generation of family was added and these great-grandchildren had a different name for her – “Mimi.” Blake and Gordon square danced in Arizona and marched in Washington, DC. Blake had become politically active.
In time, they sold the RV and bought a 100-year-old farm house and moved it to a lovely spot in Brenham. Their goal was to have an energy efficient home, and they did most of the work on it themselves. Blake maintained the grounds while Gordon sawed and nailed. They were in Houston all week, but the weekends were spent in Brenham. Those were happy years.
Blake was known for being supportive of family and friends. She cared deeply for the homeless and hungry doing volunteer work with SEARCH and other Houston organizations. For over 50 years she was an active Friend of Bill’s, and she offered friendship and hugs to members of the PFLAG community. She went in to the women’s prison in Houston to hold meetings for incarcerated Friends of Bill.
After Gordon’s death, Blake moved again. The Hallmark provided a new set of friends beginning with the 801 Singers who kept her life joyful and fun. Blake is remembered as the person who began the glass recycling program and taught residents to play Hand and Foot. “She was the first person to welcome me to The Hallmark.” “My husband and I stood in the doorway to the dining room our first night at The Hallmark. Blake came to greet us and invited us to sit with her.” Blake’s family is grateful for the loving care her Hallmark friends and the staff provided.
In time, we all must say good-bye. Blake reached out by phone to family members her last night. Never without the latest technology, she had her new iPhone under her pillow and her new iPad by her chair. She died in her sleep on the 17th of February 2022, just short of 103. That’s how she wanted her life to end – without fanfare. The memory of her welcoming smile. warm hugs, and thoughtful conversations is her legacy.
Blake will be fondly remembered by her greatgreat-grandchildren, Jack, Cole, Christian and Ari; great-grandchildren, Julia Meisel-Martinez and her husband Craig, Emma and Lucy Meisel, and Jacob Meisel; grandchildren, Chuck and his wife Tisa, John and his wife Melanie, Peter Meisel and his wife Kelly, Matt and Tessa Poppe; and daughters, Valerie Meisel and Judith Poppe and her husband Herman. Blake was special to the Weisser family in Canada, and loved by the McKnights and Polly Blake Buenger and Tina in Texas.
Please come join her family at a Celebration of Blake Weisser’s Life, which is to be conducted at two o’clock in the afternoon on Saturday, the 7th of May 2022, at Christ Church Cathedral, 1117 Texas Avenue in Houston.
Immediately following all are invited to greet the family and share fond memories of Blake during a reception in the nearby Sanders Hall.
In lieu of customary remembrances, the family requests with gratitude that memorial contributions in her name be directed to The Beacon,
Donations to The Beacon, 1117 Texas Avenue, Houston, TX, 77002 (BeaconHomeless.org/Donate).
Please visit Blake’s online memorial tribute at GeoHLewis.com where memories and words of comfort and condolence may be shared electronically with her family.