Dec 13, 1939 - Feb 8, 2010

Patricia McMillan Blair, 70, of Lenoir and formerly of Ashe County passed away Monday, February 8, 2010 at her residence. She was the Patterson School’s Spanish teacher from 1975 to 1988. There are certain individuals who are iconic at Patterson and Pat was one of them. She was loved by so many and will be missed by many more.

Mrs. Blair was born in Mecklenburg County to the late Wiley Dean McMillan and Virginia Colvard McMillan. She was a retired school teacher with Patterson School and Caldwell County school system and a member of the Caldwell Senior Center Bridge Club.

Survivors include her husband, Lindsay Addison Blair of the home; sons, Lindsay Dean Blair of Lenoir, Stephen Michael Blair and wife Mary Beth of Peachtree City, GA and David Malcolm Blair and wife Stacy of Hickory; a daughter, Beth Blair Stalnaker and husband Bobby of Granite Falls; a brother, Jerry C. McMillan of West Jefferson; a sister, Dorothy McMillan Little of Lenoir; six grandchildren and one great grandchild.

A funeral service will be held at Yadkin Baptist Church Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. with Reverend Robert Livingston officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service at the church.

Serving as pallbearers will be members of the family along with Eddie Crump. Honorary pallbearers will be members of the Senior Center Bridge Club.

The family requests that memorials in memory of Patricia Blair be made to the Caldwell County Senior Center at 650 Pennton Ave SE, Lenoir, NC 28645.

On-line condolences to the Blair family may be placed at www.pendrysfuneralhome.com

Some interesting statistics:

- Every 10 seconds a person dies from diabetes-related causes.
- Every 10 seconds two people develop diabetes.
- Every 30 seconds a limb is lost to diabetes
- Each year a 7 million people develop diabetes
- Each year 4 million deaths are attributable to diabetes
- Diabetes is the fourth leading cause of global death by disease.

Author, Motivational Speaker and Director of Real Body Enterprises, Sonja Falvo, says that “People at high risk for developing Type 2 diabetes can reduce their chances of getting the disease by 58 percent if they lose as few as 5kg, exercise regularly and follow a healthy diet”.

Falvo’s statement is supported by a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine (May 3, 2001) that underscores the significant benefits of lifestyle changes in fighting the disease. The researchers on the study said lifestyle changes have long been known to be beneficial but they deemed the magnitude of the benefits found in the study -even in the case of relatively small changes – remarkable.

“The changes that were required to prevent diabetes were not drastic -they were just modest,” said Jaakko Tuomi- lehto, author of the study and professor at the National Public Health Institute in Finland.

Falvo says that “whilst making a change to both diet and exercise, eating the right amount of calories for ones lifestyle factors and eating a healthier diet would ultimately result in the best effect, even changing a single factor will still help to reduce the risks; the harsh reality is that we do have a major control over type 2 diabetes by our own actions.

Ultimately, doing things such as following a healthy diet, finding time to relax in order to reduce stress, following a sensible exercise program and overcoming any emotional triggers that may be resulting in comfort eating are all important in terms of reducing your risks of getting type 2 diabetes.

Media contact: For more information, contact Sonja Falvo at Real Body Enterprises by phone (07) 3392 0770 / 0424 506 902 or via email at sonjafalvo@realbodyenterprises.com.