Robert John Benson
May 31, 1923 - November 12, 2012
Robert John Benson, 89, of Ames died November 12, 2012, at Northcrest Retirement Community. A gathering of family and friends will be at 4:30-6:00 p.m., Thursday, November 15, with a funeral service at 6:00 p.m. at the First Evangelical Church in Ames with Rev. David Staff officiating. Burial will be in the Ames Municipal Cemetery.
Robert John Benson was born in Boone, Iowa to Evald and Margaret Blakeley Benson on May 31, 1923. He graduated from Boone High School in 1942. He joined the Boone First Baptist Church in 1944. On September, 15, 1946 he married Betty Ruth Hoyt in Boone. They lived in many areas of the country and also overseas as he pursued his education and military career. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa and his master's degree from Drake University.
During World War II he served in the U.S. Navy as a Radarman aboard a Landing Ship Medium in the Pacific. After graduation from college in 1948 he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Adjutant General Corps and served on active duty as a special agent in the Counter Intelligence Corps until 1953. He continued serving on the faculty of several U.S. Army Reserve Schools in Iowa and Indiana. His last reserve duty assignment was as Deputy Director of Training and Education, U.S. Army Institute of Administration, Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. He retired in May, 1983 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel having served 31 years of duty with the Navy, Army, and Army Reserves.
He worked for thirty-five years in personnel and administration, Department of Residence, Iowa State University, until he retired in January, 1989. He was a member of Ames First Baptist Church for many years and later a member of the First Evangelical Free Church.
Survivors include his wife, Betty Hoyt Benson, of Ames, one daughter, Ruthann Elaine Benson of LaCrosse, WI, one son, Steven Robert (Cathy) Benson of Bettendorf, IA, three grandchildren: Michael (Heather) Miars of Duluth, Georgia, Morgan Benson and Blake Benson both of Bettendorf, IA, and five great grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers the family asks that memorial contributions be made to the Northcrest Retirement Community or the First Evangelical Free Church.
Online condolences may be sent to www.grandonfuneralandcremationcare.com