Elna M. Benson 1907 - 1999

BENSON, BUTTERFIELD, JOHNSON

Posted By: Connie J Swearingen-Volunteer (email)
Date: 9/7/2014 at 20:38:51

8 May 1999

ONAWA, Iowa --Elna M. Benson, 91, of Studio City, Calif., died Sunday, May 2, 1999, at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Burbank, Calif.

Graveside services will be at 1 p.m. Monday in Onawa City Cemetery, with the Rev. Steven C. Hetzel officiating. There will be no visitation. Arrangements are under the direction of Pearson Funeral Home in Onawa.

Mrs. Benson was born Dec. 21, 1907, in Emmetsburg, Iowa, the daughter of D.A. and Lillian (Butterfield) Johnson. She was raised in Emmetsburg and graduated from Emmetsburg High School. She graduated from Iowa State University with a bachelor's degree in home economics in 1930. She taught school in Winfield, Iowa and then in Emmetsburg.

She married Roy Walker Benson of Onawa on Dec. 22, 1934. The couple lived in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He died Feb. 19, 1941. She returned to Emmetsburg and taught until retiring in 1967. She then moved to Scottsdale, Ariz. and then to Studio City in 1978.

She was a member of Trinity Episcopal Church in Emmetsburg, Altar Society, past president of the church Guild, Gamma Phi Beta Alumnae and Iowa State University Alumni.

Survivors include two sons, Wilbur Richard "Dick" Benson of Studio City and James Brooks Benson of Onawa; three grandchildren; a brother, Robert J. Johnson of Onawa; and 13 nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by five brothers, Donald in infancy, Marion, Ronald, Max and Ross.