At 90, Town’s Last Dweller Packs It In

BLABON, N.D. — Ed Tranby has seen a lot during his 80 years living in Blabon. On Friday, he saw it die when he moved out.

Tranby, 90, had been the only person living there for about two years. Once a railroad town of nearly 200 people, Blabon is now home mostly to pheasants and deer.

After last winter, when blizzards shut off the power for three days, Tranby and his children agreed he should move to an apartment in nearby Cooperstown.

Tranby convinced his son, Garry, who came from Portland, Ore., to stay in his three-bedroom home one more night before helping him pack. “When he’s been here packing, I’ve been sitting here in tears,” Ed Tranby said.

The elder Tranby, known as “the mayor” to nearby farmers, moved to town in 1916. Over the years, he worked at the grocery store, the hardware store, the lumberyard and ran a machine shop from 1930 to 1965. He also farmed. Tranby and his wife, who died in 1980, raised five children.

“I’ve seen this town bloom and go down to nothing,” he said.