Benson, Walter Jennings (1915-2000)

BENSON, OLSON, ANDERSON, BENTSEN, JOHNSON, EVERIST

Posted By: Debbie Greenfield (email)
Date: 1/28/2023 at 15:54:41

Daily Freeman Journal
Webster City, Iowa
Monday, November 20, 2000

Walter Jennings "Buster" Benson, 85, Story City, died Sunday, Nov. 19, 2000 at his home in Story City. Funeral services will be held Wednesday at 1 p.m. at St. Petri Lutheran Church in Story City with Rev. Thomas Reuss officiating. Burial will be in the Mt. Olive Cemetery in Randall. Visitation will be held Tuesday at the Soderstrum-Larson Funeral Home in Story City after 3 p.m. with the family present from 6:30-8 p.m.

Walter Jennings Benson, son of Edwin and Sophia Olson Benson, was born July 19, 1915 at Washta, Iowa. He graduated from Randall Consolidated Schools in 1932. He married Grace Josephine Anderson at Elim Lutheran Church in Randall on Sept. 22, 1938. He served as the general manager of Farmer's Co-op Grain Companies from 1938 to 1981 at Randall, Spencer and McCallsburg.

Mr. Benson also served 15 years on the Randall School Board, several of which were as president. He was a director on the Boone Valley Regional Co-op Board and was Randall's first fire chief. He was a lifelong member of the Lutheran Church and taught Sunday school, and served on various church boards.

He is survived by his wife, Grace, a daughter and son-in-law, Mary Bentsen and Robert Johnson, Story City, a son and daughter-in-law, Paul and Pam Benson, Urbandale, eight grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, a son-in-law, Gary Everist, and a brother, Edwin Benson of Little Rock, Ark.

He was preceded in death by his parents, a daughter, Barbara Everist in 1986, two grandchildren, and three brothers, Ernest, Arnold and Orlin.