Veteran news photographer dies
When Spokane got its first look at a locally filmed news show 52 years ago, U. Sherman Blake directed the cameramen.
Blake, a newspaper, radio and TV journalist for 50-plus years, died Friday after a long illness. He was 84.
Blake, a Detroit native who moved here as a child in 1930, was a pioneer in Spokane journalism. Before serving in the U.S. Navy in World War II, Blake worked at The Spokesman-Review.
His career took off after the war when Blake worked as a reporter and photographer at the now-defunct Spokane Daily Chronicle, KHQ-TV and KREM-TV. He retired from KREM in 1975 as news director, said his daughter, Betsy A. Blake.
Blake’s most noted experience as a journalist happened on Dec. 21, 1952, when he and his crew produced the first Spokane news program on KHQ.
Tragically, the story was about an Air Force transport crash in which 86 Air Force personnel died. The accident occurred when a C-124 Loadmaster took off from Larson Air Force Base in Moses Lake.
Thirty-five people survived the crash, but at the time, the death toll was the highest of any U.S. military airplane crash. According to Betsy Blake’s records, the station broadcast a 15-minute report the following day.
Blake, a 32-year veteran in the Naval Reserve, retired as a master chief photographer. He participated in the landings at Iwo Jima and Okinawa as a combat photographer with the Seventh Fleet.
Blake graduated from Rogers High School and decades later was one of the first alumni to be selected for the school’s “Walk of Fame.”
Aside from his military and journalism accomplishments, Blake was a Spokane Valley fire commissioner for 23 years.
He founded and was the first president of the Spokane County Fire Commissioners Association.
Blake is survived by daughters Betsy and Sheryl S. Blake, both of Spokane; brothers James J. Blake of Deer Park and Robert H. Blake of Kalispell, Mont., as well as nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be held Friday at 2:30 p.m. at Sunset Chapel Spokane Cremation & Burial Service, 2832 N. Ruby.