Kathy Sloan Blanton
Indian River Magazine Publisher and Cow Creek Chronicles author Gregory Enns visited Kathy in Franklin last May for the series and took this photograph.

Kathy Sloan
Kathy Sloan at Cattleman’s Day Parade in Fort Pierce in the late 1960s. ARNOLD FAMILY ARCHIVES

It is with tremendous sadness that we share the news of the death of Kathy Sloan Blanton, one of the principal people featured in our Cow Creek Chronicles series. Kathy was the great-granddaughter of Frank Raulerson, founder of Cow Creek Ranch on the St. Lucie-Okeechobee county line, and the daughter of Jo Ann and TL Sloan. Kathy, 68, died Wednesday at Care Partners hospice in Asheville, N.C., after a fall at her daughter’s home in Franklin, N.C., the week before. She had been living in Franklin for the last four decades and had been in declining health. She is survived by her sister, Debra, four daughters, 10 grandchildren and eight great grandchildren. Services are pending.

The Sloan family in the 1960s near their home on Orange Avenue
The Sloan family in the 1960s near their home on Orange Avenue. Jo Ann and TL are in the middle; Kathy is on the left; and Debra on the right. PICKERING FAMILY ARCHIVES

The Cow Creek Chronicles - A series

Read the series to date:

Part 1

Frank Raulerson creates Cow Creek Ranch and develops his granddaughter, Jo Ann, to take it over.

Part 2

Jo Ann and her husband, Tommy, take over the ranch in 1954 when Frank Raulerson dies.
Writer and publisher Gregory Enns shares his link to Cow Creek Ranch.

Part 3

Tommy and Jo Ann buy an old farmhouse in North Carolina while the family undergoes tremendous change. Kathy gets married and has children and Tommy reveals another extramarital relationship. Tommy’s free-spending ways continue, putting Cow Creek Ranch at risk.

Part 4

Publishes in November 2022

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