Obelisk grave stone of Governor Ray Blanton
N 35° 08.030 W 088° 21.327
16S E 376510 N 3888725
Gravestone of contriversial Tennessee Governor Leonard Ray Blanton
Waymark Code: WM1Q8V
Location: Tennessee, United States
Date Posted: 06/22/2007
Views: 136
This 30-foot Obelisk is the gravestone of Leonard Ray Blanton, Tennessee Governor from 1975-79. It is located at Shiloh Church Cemetery surounded by the Shiloh National Military Park near Hurley, TN
Blanton was surrounded by contriversy as a result of State workers who pardoned and paroled prisoners that had bribed some of his administration. His high travel expenses were also condemned, but those travels brought in foreign investors that more than paid for the expense. In June 1981 Blanton was convicted of mail fraud, extortion, and conspiracy and served twenty-two months in a Federal Penitentiary for scheming to corner the Nashville Liquor store market. He died before he could restore his reputation.