Wallace M. Benke, 76

Wallace M. Benke, 76, died Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009, at his home in Blair.

Funeral services will be 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 9 at Campbell-Aman Funeral Home. Visitation will be held one hour prior to services on Friday. Interment will be in the Voss-Mohr Cemetery in Millard.

Wallace M. “Wall” Benke was born May 25, 1933, in rural Bennington to Fred and Bertha (Cornelius) Benke. He graduated from Millard High School.

He married Joan Petersen on May 2, 1959 in Bennington. The couple had just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this year.

Mr. Benke worked for Fruehauf in Omaha for six years. After moving to Blair, he worked for Skelly’s Service Station for seven years, then was a welder for Kelly Ryan Equipment for 31 years.

He enjoyed dancing and listening to polka music, bird watching, eating out and working in his yard and garden.

He is survived by his wife, Joan; two daughters and a son-in-law, Cindy and Robert Williams of Magalia, Calif., and Carol Mitchell of Omaha; two grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and two sisters, Phyllis Buesing of Syracuse, and Fern Smith of New Market, Iowa.

He was preceded in death by his first wife, Adele; an infant daughter, Pam; sister, Irma Lambrecht; and three brothers Roy, Earl, and Harold.

Campbell-Aman Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~