Our community lost a tireless advocate for sustainable living on September 28, 2024, with the passing of Giles William Blunden of Carrboro, North Carolina. Giles settled in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area in 1970 after he received his architecture degree from the University of Utah, where he learned about sustainable design. It was from that launching pad that he committed himself to a life lived according to his strongly held values, including a belief that individuals and communities could find creative and beautiful ways to live softly on this planet.
Giles had an international childhood. He was born in 1942 in London during World War II. His parents soon emigrated to Australia. He left his home in Brisbane at age 12, relocating to California where his mother remarried. He joined the U.S. Army after a boisterous adolescence in Los Angeles and was posted to Fort Campbell, Kentucky. While at Fort Campbell, he met his first wife, Patricia Bassett, and they started a family. After a brief stint in the Army, Giles moved his family to Utah where he studied architecture and began his life-long passionate journey with green building.
Giles found joy working on projects with others. He designed and built his homes, beginning with the geodesic dome where he lived with his family in the 1970s and continuing through to his last house, the sun-filled, solar powered oasis he built around a shipping container to live in with his beloved partner, Marywinne Sherwood. Giles remarked about this house: “I want to show the world that you can live comfortably and still not kill the earth.”
He helped his second wife, Ginger Blakely, to make her Carr Mill Mall art supply store a pleasant and welcoming environment. He helped his children reinvent their living spaces; donated his time, talent and resources to community organizations such as the Carrboro Art Center, Club Nova, the Boys & Girls Clubs and the Eco Institute; and was successful in bringing co-housing communities to Carrboro with the development of the Arcadia and Pacifica neighborhoods. Giles always insisted on using local and repurposed building materials which he used to build the gazebo at Sanctuary Farm and the Honeysuckle Tea House on Jo Mac Road, using shipping containers, repurposed telephone poles and downed pine trees recovered from the clearing site. In his solar house, he also used boards from the floor of a dilapidated old barn to outline the doorways, providing visual warmth. Every project Giles and his good friend, Tim, did together had the elements of (1) building community, (2) demonstrating reuse of materials and (3) promoting local resilience.
Community was always important to Giles and he attended the “Transition Towns” launch in Carrboro which aimed to prepare communities for the shocks associated with climate change. Giles also loved pool and was a crack competitor for those who took up the challenge.
Giles was diagnosed with cancer 10 years ago and was told last January that he had months to live. Wondering what he would do for those months, he surprised us all and bought a vintage 1969 Jaguar automobile to rebuild. The project kept him going for eight more months and was a delight to all neighbors around, again building community and having fun at the same time.
Giles is survived by his partner, Marywinne Sherwood; his children, Brent (Phoebe) Blunden and Jessica (Hilawe) Blunden; his siblings, Hugh and Sarah Blunden and Harden and Debbie Richardson; and his grandchildren, Hanna Blunden Judson (Lucas), Megan Blunden, Bleecker Blunden and Leah and Helina Semunegus. He also leaves behind a large circle of friends whom he loved dearly and who loved him.
There will be a memorial gathering to honor Giles Blunden at the Common House in Arcadia, 134 Circadian Way, Chapel Hill, on Friday, November 8 at 2 p.m. As parking is minimal, please carpool if possible. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Giles' name to an environmental non-profit of your choice.
