2011 Reunion News

We are back! 

Before I give the rundown of this year's family reunion, 

I would like to thank Greg and Teresa Steelsmith for taking the time to reserve the pavilion for next year. I really appreciate you saving me the trip.

Now, on to the what's what of 2011's get together.

There was a questionnaire passed out, and the chicken was voted to stay, as was the auction

(both of which are personal favorites of mine, so I'm glad you all feel the same way).

The chicken will continue to be paid for with the treasury money, and we will continue meeting 

at the Lebanon Memorial Park.

Also on the questionnaire was the question:

"Would you be willing to serve as an officer?" to which a very small handful of people said "yes."

I (Aaron Benge) was made the President, and James Benge was made the Vice President / Treasurer / Social Organizer / Public Relations Liaison / Event Coordinator / etc.

The terms of office are 2 years for the President and from what I understand, 37 years for all other offices.

Thanks uncle James for having my back. It means a lot to me.

As you can see, the website has been updated, and the counter restarted.

I apologize for not posting more often than I did last year. I will be more diligent in the years to come.

Send me your old photos! Mary Alice gave me Virgil's old presidential Cadillac bag of Benge family history, so in the months to come I will be posting Family Tree info and other interesting things I find in there.
I am still looking for the list of who won each of the titles for Longest Drive, Newest baby, ect.
The list is in the bag or tote somewhere. Wish me luck.

I will leave you with some photos from this year, and a thanks to my Great Uncle George Benge, who answered the "......how you can help" question with

"PRAY." 

...Uncle Jim and I can use all of that that we can get!

(remember, click on any picture to see the full size) 

...maybe next year Andrew will let me get a picture of him.

Stay Tuned!

Hey, everybody! In case you missed this year's reunion, I wanted to give an update on how it went. The weather was the best it's been in three years; not too hot, not too cold. We thought we might get rained out there for a while, but it passed. The food was fantastic (as always), and the auction went well. ...And we didn't have to share the pavilion with strangers!
I will be posting photos, and a list of newly appointed officers as soon as I get a chance to go through the "tote."
We would like to thank Mary Alice for graciously holding the office of President for the last 5 years. Yes, you read it correctly, 5 years. Thank you. We appreciate everything you've done!

We had sort of a small turnout this year, so lets try to get the word out early for next year. It would be nice to see some folks who don't usually come... I'll start working on my brother and sister ASAP.
Check back here often. I will be adding and changing things in the weeks to come.

We Have A New Benge! Zedekiah Creed.

Meet Zedekiah Creed Benge, 

son of Aaron and Rebecca Benge. Brother to Lukas Benge, Ethan Chezem,
Noah Benge and Esther Benge.

Born Sept 23, 9lb 12.8 oz,

all digits present and accounted for!

(click photo for larger view)

His first name comes from the bible, Jeremiah chapter 29 (in Hebrew means "Righteous King"),
and Creed is a family name;
Creed was Tilford's brother
(you can read the post and see a picture of Tilford and Creed by clicking here.)

From what I understand,

Tilford was Albert's father,

who was Henry's father,

who was Cecil's father,

who was my father,

making Creed my Great, Great Uncle,

and Zedekiah's Great, Great, Great Uncle.

PFC Samual Edward Benge

I would like to thank my cousins, Rusty McCullough and Chad Benge for these pictures relating to my uncle Sam.
(Click on any photo to see a larger image)

 

The first is a picture of Samuel "Bo" Benge (Right) at AIT, in Fort Lewis, Washington. He is pictured with Jackie Bartlett from Bedford Indiana

Samuel Benge with mother, Hazel Benge Ft Knox, KY just before he left for Vietnam.

Samuel "Bo" Benge was only in Vietnam for 31 days before losing his life. 

His tour began on May 2, 1969.
He became a casualty of war on June 3, 1969;
in Binh Duong, South Vietnam.

Sam's name appears on panel 23West, Line 50 on the
Vietnam War Memorial in Washington DC (pictured below).
Click here to visit his information on the Wall online.

Below is a post card sent by Sam, to Rusty McCullough.
(I don't have the front of the second post card...)

and another:

Four Brothers:

Above, Left to Right: Samuel Benge, Virgil "Ricky Benge, James Benge and Cecil "Buddy" Benge

"The Year We Shared The Pavilion"

If you were at this year's family reunion, and want some of your pictures posted here, please email them to me at: romans833@yahoo.com.

We had a great time this year, all things considered. 2010 will be known as the "Year we had to share the pavilion." 

It was good never the less.

Thanks to Chad Benge for these photos:

Seated on the floor from left to right: Jim Sullivan, Cecil Benge, Virgil "Ricky" Benge, Sammy Benge, James Benge, and the last is Jay Copenhaver. Seated behind them from left to right, Henry Benge holding Becky Benge, Hazel Benge holding Donald Benge, Martha Benge, Albert Benge is holding Joe Copenhaver, Sally Copenhaver holding Jeff Copenhaver, Judy Copenhaver, Serrie Copenhaver. Standing in the back from left to right: Virgil Benge, Mary Benge, Mary Katherine Benge, Carel (?) "Boob" Sullivan, Linda Sullivan, Martha Benge, Eva Sullivan, Mary Alice, Sam Benge, :Louise Benge, George Benge, John Copenhaver, and Nancy Benge Stone. 

Believed to be taken sometime between 1955-1957, around christmas at Albert and Martha's just west of Granville Wells school outside Jamestown, Indiana. 

From left to right: Henry Benge, Albert Benge and Alberts half brother Theo. 

To my knowledge, Albert is holding either Martha or Mary Benge.

We've Got Mail! (...and a couple updates)

There's less than two weeks until the family reunion, so if you have any old family photos that you would like posted, now would be the time to do it! I'm looking forward to getting some feedback on the website, and maybe getting some snapshots in the process.

These were sent to me by Rusty McCullough...

Chris and Mary Ellen McCullough, wearing "Baton Twirling" outfits 

crocheted by Grandma Hazel

Mary Ellen (holding "Tiny"), and Rusty McCullough

Hazel Benge

Almost There...

We're getting near that time, ladies and gentlemen. We are just a little under two months away from the 

Benge Family Reunion - 52 days, 14 hours, 30 minutes, and 15 seconds to be exact, as I write this.

At least that's what the new countdown ticker in the side-bar says.

Remember, there is a link to a map and directions underneath the countdown, just in case you have family coming in from out of state.

Looking forward to seeing you all there, and keep the pictures coming!

By the way, if you would like to send me census records, marriage certificates, death certificates, baby announcements, or anything of that nature, just send me a scanned picture (preferably in the ".jpg" format, but it doesn't have to be).

Straight From The Mail Box

 Yes! I finally received some photos from a family member who stopped by the website.

If you have sent photos and they have not been posted, i apologize. I was lucky to have found these- I found them by accident by cleaning out my spam folder. If you know somebody that has sent pictures, and they are wondering why they haven't showed up on the website, tell them to send them again. Thanks!

Also, special thanks to Rachel Stone for taking the time to send these to me.

Nancy (Benge) Stone- Easter 2010

 

Nancy (Benge) Stone and the family, Easter 2010 (contains Liib (nancys' daughter) 3 of Libbi's 4 kids (Justin, Rachel, Joe) some of the great-grand-kids or Nancy's and some of the "significant others"

 Nancy and Justin Stone at the family reunion 2009 

Nancy (Benge) Stone with her daughter, Libbi Parnell, and her son, Robert Stone, who is in the National Guard and currently in Afghanistan.

Thanks, and thanks again... keep'em coming!

I just wanted to thank everybody for all of the information we've been getting, 

and encourage you all to scan and send old photos if you have any!

My email is: romans833@yahoo.com

Here soon I will start putting up individual pages with each branch of the family, or something of that nature. 

I would like to put an Excel file showing the family tree if anyone happens to have it on their computer. Several years ago at the reunion, I remember seeing it all laid out on a table... If anybody knows where I could come across a copy, I'll post it online.

Keep those pictures coming!

These photos are more from my time-frame. 

Below: On the left is George Benge, middle is his cousin  Sam, and in the green hat is another Sam, George's brother. The gentleman on the far right is Jason, Sam's (green hat) son.
(Click any image for a much bigger view of the picture)

Taken at the 2006 Family Reunion.

Below; also from 2006 reunion:

From the left, Sally, Nancy, Linda Sullivan-Peffley (deceased sister Eva's daughter), 

George, Mary Alice, Sam.

Below: Sally Benge-Copenhaver's oldest son, Jay Albert Copenhaver.
Jay is Sally's oldest son, and lives in Texas.

Below: Aaron Benge, Rebecca Benge, on Rebecca's lap is Esther Benge, far right is Ethan Chezem, 

bottom left is Noah Benge, and bottom right is Lukas Benge.

Not in photo is our newest edition to the Benge family, due on Sept 26th!

Below: Judy Copenhaver Pollard (Sally Benge Copenhaver's daughter) with her nephew, Jason Copenhaver.  Jason is Jay Copenhaver's son.

Below: Casey Stone; who happened to win the award for "youngest person" at the reunion in 2006.

UPDATED: Tilford, Albert, Sam and... King David?

UPDATE: Several photos have been updated with more accurate information.

Above: Tilford Benge and Susan, along with two of his twenty-plus children.

Below: Tilford, and his brother, Creed. We are unsure if the women are sisters or wives, so if you have any information, please leave it in the comments link below.

UPDATE: I just got this info in an email - " ...pretty sure the lady to the left is Molly L. Benge and the one on the right is Susan Malinda Benge sisters of Tilford. I don't know who they married or if they did. Date of death for both is July 2nd.1939 seems odd?"

Below: Sam Benge (next two photos), Tilford Benge's son, and Albert Benge's full brother:

Below: Albert Benge on a short mule. 

There is a story that goes with this, and is posted at the bottom.

Above: Albert Benge and his half-brothers: Mack,Theo,Woodrow,and Matt on the end. 

Photo thought to be taken at Albert's brother's funeral.

Above: A young Sam Benge with his mother, the widow of old Sam who was Albert benge's full brother.

Tombstone of "King David" Benge. David Benge is an ancestor to most of the Indiana Benge's. 

Legend has it that David Benge had a big part in winning the battle at King's Mountain, Kentucky. 

For more information on King David Benge, click here.

...now, back to Albert and the short mule.

"In many of his pictures of that time period, he [Albert] was sitting on that mule and it was obviously quite a bit shorter than the other animals.  I asked my dad's [Albert's] cousin why he seemed to prefer that little short mule and he explained, "It seems the mule was really fast and would 'lay right down on its side' when going around a corner.  Fastest thing around Laurel, KY at that time."   I asked that same man if my mother, Martha, rode.  He said "Why, sure, she'd have to ride if she was going to go round with Ab."    

Imagine those comments in a deep southern accent!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for stopping by, everybody. Please, leave comments and photos if you have them!

Special thanks to my Great Aunt, Mary McCullough for this batch of pictures - I have never seen most of these, and it is a blessing to me and my family.  - Aaron Benge

UPDATED: Photos! Henry & Hazel Benge, the Madox's, Buddy and Sammy

UPDATE: Some of these have been updated recently.

Finally, we have some photos. I will need some help in naming some of the older photos, as I don't remember most of them, aside from my own grandparents, Henry and Hazel Benge. I have no idea what year the pictures were taken, or the birth and death dates of most, so all help is welcome. Enjoy!
(most photos can be clicked on to see a larger image)

Henry and Hazel Benge (above)

 

I have been told that this is my Grandmother Hazel's parents, Cecil and Betty Maddox 

  

Above: Albert & Martha Benge.
Believed to be taken at my aunt Mary Ellen Benge's wedding to Larry Riley.

 

My father, Cecil "Buddy" Benge

5 MAY 1946 - 7 SEPT 1981

 

My uncle, Samuel "Bo" Edward Benge, who gave his life for our country in Vietnam.

(13 NOV 1948 - 3 JUNE 1969)
(Special thanks to Sam Benge for emailing me Sam's birthday)