Lila P. (Hanson) BENNER

BENNER, HANSON, BUCHANAN, KEPHART, MCCORMICK, BEERS

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 5/10/2010 at 11:37:00

CLEAR LAKE, IA — Lila P. Benner, 83, of Clear Lake, died Thursday (April 23, 1998) at the Muse-Norris Hospice In-Patient Unit, Mason City. Funeral services will be held at l p.m. Tuesday at the Ward-Van Slyke Colonial Chapel, 101 N. Fourth St., Clear Lake, with the Rev. David R. Shogren officiating. Burial will be in Memorial Park Cemetery, Mason City. Visitation will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at the funeral home. Memorials may be made to Hospice of North Iowa or Wesley United Methodist Church, Mason City.

Lila was born April 7, 1915, in Kanawha, the daughter of Andrew and Alice (Buchanan) Hanson. She was baptized at United Brethren Church in Goodell. She attended rural school, as well as Twin Lakes, near Kanawha. During her high school years, she attended Clear Lake High School and graduated from Britt High School. She was enrolled in junior college for one year in Britt.
On Oct. 7, 1934, she was united in marriage to Sherril O. Benner at United Brethren Church in Goodell. Lila was a maid and manager of a Texas motel and assistant manager of a 240-unit apartment complex in Dallas, Texas, until her husband retired in 1969. The couple spent their winters in the South, visiting their three sons. Their summers were spent in Clear Lake, visiting their other three children. She enjoyed crafts, especially hook rugs and painting figurines. Lila’s family always came first to her and she loved to compile photo books and scrapbooks for her children. She will be remembered as a person who loved to help others. Lila was a member of Wesley United Methodist Church in Mason City.

She is survived by five sons, Donald Benner and his wife, Mary Jo, of Phoenix, Ariz., Jerry Benner and his wife, Arlene, of Grand Prairie, Texas, Stanley Benner and his wife, Betsy, of St. Peter, Minn., Philip Benner and his wife, Mary Ann, of Shreveport, La., and Lavern Benner and his wife, Patsy, of Clear Lake; a step-daughter, Beverley Kephart, and her husband, Raymond, of Washington, Iowa; 22 grandchildren; 32 great-grandchildren; two sisters-in-law, Nadine McCormick, of Spencer, Iowa, and Tess Brenner, of Humboldt, Ariz.; a brother-in-law, Burdette Beers, of Mason City; and several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband Sherril in 1995; two brothers, John A. Hanson and Ora A. Hanson; and a grandson, Thomas Anthony Benner.

April 26, 1998
Mason City (Iowa) Globe Gazette