Mrs. Hilary Kathleen Welch Blount

Hilary Kathleen Welch-Blount, 30, passed away November 15, 2013, at 12:26 p.m. from a brain hemorrhage following complications from surgery. Public visitation will be held at the Davis Family Funeral Home on Monday from 2-8 p.m. and Tuesday from 1-8 p.m. with the family present Tuesday evening from 6-8 p.m. to receive friends. Services for Hilary will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday November 20, 2013 in the Community Hall of the Bartlesville Community Center with Jason Elmore officiating. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to a fund which is being set up at Arvest Bank in her honor. The Richter Scale has no measurement capable of registering the impact of April 10, 1983, when Hilary burst forth at Jane Phillips Hospital in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Academia and discipline proved minor obstacles as she conquered Bartlesville High School in 2001 as a National Merit Scholar with a 4.0 G.P.A. and a full ride to college. At University of Tulsa, she reigned with the terror of a tyrant over her fellow students as Assistant Resident Director, and graduated with an honors degree Summa Cum Laude and with a Bachelor of Arts in Music and a minor in Philosophy. Not to retire at 22, Hilary began working for Nevus Outreach, playing music professionally for churches and private functions, teaching piano, guitar, flute, and voice lessons, and serving on the boards of numerous non -profits including Westside Community Center and Musical Research Society. She was the dynamic conductor of the First Presbyterian-based Belk Bell Ringers. She was an influential member of Toastmasters where she had to be restrained during public speaking as not to scare off new members with her sesquipedalian sentiments. At the time of her passing, she also served as the Executive Director of the Bartlesville Allied Arts and Humanities Council. Hilary was active in her own realm. She was a fierce adventurer and left no parts of the Pathfinder trail unfound, nor any playground unplayed. She was the patron saint of lost animals and played foster mom to many a wayward kitten and puppy. Empathy, education, and equality were the capstones of her adult life. These views manifested in political progressivism for human rights especially the LGBTQ community. She felt animals were friends, not food, so she lived as a vegetarian for nearly a decade. In her final months she also began exploring one of her childhood dreams of becoming an author - she joined the WordWeavers writing group and self-published four books. Not all of Hilary’s meticulous planning went as calculated, and she ended up doing something she once swore never to do. In a feat of accomplishment he still can’t believe he pulled off, Michael Blount and Hilary Welch wooed each other and they began to date in October 2011. Together they organized a peaceful counter-protest to Westboro Baptist Church, engaged in a heated battle of poetry over ragweed, won a Halloween contest as a pair of pirates, visited numerous state parks, and even braved the Caribbean. Hilary proposed to Michael on Thanksgiving Day 2012. Four months ago they were wed on June 29, 2013. Hilary readily proclaimed the past two years as some of the happiest, most fulfilling, and best times of her young life. Hilary Welch is survived by her immediate family of husband Michael Blount, her parents Jim and Sue Welch, her in-laws Kent and Julie Blount, her grandfather Robert Kelly, her grandma-in-law Shirl Wastlund, her siblings Tim and Jeremy Welch, her sisters-in-law Annie Welch and Cassie Blount and her brothers-in-law Brandon and Keegan Blount and her German Shepherd Ty. She was preceded in death by her grandmother Ella Kelly and her dog Indy. Arrangements are under the direction of Carter Davis and the Davis Family Funeral Home. Online condolences and everlasting tributes may be left at www.davisfamilyfuneralhome.com.

Mrs. Hilary Kathleen Welch Blount

April 10, 1983 - November 15, 2013