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BLEAKLY, DAVID On February 3, 2015, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, David Lewis Bleakly, 64, passed away due to complications of pancreatic cancer. He was born on August 17, 1950, in Oskaloosa, Iowa, to Richard Lewis and Bernice (Geerlings) Bleakly. He is survived by his wife, Denise (Egolf) Bleakly; son, Evan Walter Bleakly; his mother, of Albuquerque; and his brother Jeffrey William Bleakly, of Farmington, NM. David began his work career as a laboratory technologist at age 16 at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa, and continued in this field in Farmington, New Mexico, and Albuquerque (primarily the County Hospital then known as Bernalillo County Medical Center and St. Joseph's hospital). While working in the hospitals in 1973 he completed a Bachelor of University Studies degree at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. In 1978, he began building houses, eventually specializing in custom adobe homes while under the employ of other contractors. During the latter few years of this period he had a residential construction license (Raven Design and Construction) and operated with limited success. On June 30, 1985, David and Denise were married in Albuquerque; their only child Evan was born on July 20, 1994. In 1989 he began the third and final phase of his professional career by working in the Biology Department at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. The goal was to get a Master's degree in biology. He entered graduate school in 1990 and was a teaching assistant teaching labs in botany and the flora of New Mexico. During the summers of 1991-1993, he helped complete a biological inventory of the new El Malpais National Monument, south of Grants, New Mexico. Using the plants collected during the inventory he finished in 1994 a thesis called Flora and Vegetation of El Malpais National Monument Area, New Mexico. In 1993, he closed his construction business and started Bleakly Botanical and Biological LLC, a one-man consulting company. Consulting jobs chiefly entailed doing surveys for rare plants before certain construction projects could commence. Eventually, his areas of expertise expanded beyond plant identification to include wetland delineations and a range of other biological specialties. He worked mostly within New Mexico but also had jobs in other states. During the consulting years he collected thousands of plants which are intended to be donated to various herbaria in the state. In the final few years, in addition to his business, he was employed by Tetra Tech, a large international environmental consulting firm. David had widely ranging interests. He had a natural talent in art which unfortunately he pursued only intermittently and very modest ability in music; nevertheless he particularly enjoyed playing the piano for his own amusement. Photography was lifelong passion; in college learned to process and print black and white film and over the years took more than 800 rolls of Kodachrome. Generally on a modest scale he collected many things including books (1000s), minerals, fossils, natural history objects, human artifacts, exotic woods, post cards, old maps and prints. He and his family enjoyed traveling especially in the western United States. Other activities he took delight in were reading and cooking. He was an active member of the First Unitarian Church. A memorial service will be held there on February 22, 2015. At 4 pm. The Church is located at 3701 Carlisle Boulevard Northeast, Albuquerque, near the corner of Carlisle and Comanche. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Roadrunner Food Bank or the church food pantry. His remains are interred at the San Jose de Armijo Cemetery, Albuquerque.
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