My Blake story takes place in 1982. It was Blake’s first buying job at Bellevue, store #4 in Brass Plum Shoes. I was 21, and Blake was 23. What I learned from Blake at that young age has stayed with me for my time at Nordstrom, as well as my footwear vendor career to this day. His attention to detail, and his connection with all people, is like nothing I have ever experienced. My hope is that this story gives all of you a laugh during this tough time. It was late on Sunday night, I had a customer who was staying very late, well past closing. In typical Blake fashion, he was waiting for me and helping out. We finished up, did the final clean up, and were on our way out when we passed the two three-wheeler vehicles that were part of a vendor promotion as a give away. I had been eyeing them ever since they arrived. We looked at each other, and decided we should take them for a quick spin. It was late, and we were sure nobody was left in the store. We took the shoes off, and fired them up, and took our spin around the third floor. What we didn’t know was that our store manager, John Whitacre, was just on his way out of the employee entrance door. He ran back up the three flights of stairs, and rounded the corner with fire in his eyes, just as we shut them off back in the department. He let us have it. We spent the next few hours with cleaning bottle and rag cleaning up the black marks on the marble on the third floor. I would bring this up over the years, and we both would laugh.

He impacted me in many ways, and will be missed. My heart and prayers go out to Molly, Alex, Andy, Pete,Erik, Mr. Bruce and all of his extended family and friends.

Andy Larson