LaVerne Benson

LaVerne Benson, age 96, of McIntosh, MN, passed away on Friday, September 12th, at McIntosh Senior Living. Funeral services will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 16th, at Grace Lutheran Church in Erskine with the Rev. Pam Thorson officiating. Interment will be in Fairview Cemetery, rural Erskine. Visitation will be held for one hour prior to the service on Tuesday at the church. The service will be live-streamed on the Carlin website at the bottom of LaVerne's life history. Arrangements are with Carlin Family Funeral Service of Erskine and messages of condolence may be shared at www.carlinfuneral.com.

LaVerne Benson was born LaVerne Marian Bensen, Aug 1929, to Andy Louie and Mable (Kraft) Bensen on the family farm in rural Knute Township near Erskine, MN. She went to Foot Lake Elementary School, a one room rural school, until attending Erskine High School, from which she graduated in 1947. She attended Aakers Business School in Grand Forks, ND, learning accounting methods. She met a man who worked for Irvin Gunter, local beekeeper. LaVerne and Ulysses (Ulie) Benson (no relationship supposedly) were introduced by Laverne’s brother Chester. The introduction led to a romance. Marriage ensued in June 1948, a marriage which lasted 46 years. LaVerne often pointed out that she had been both baptized and married by Pastor Skogerboe at Grace Lutheran Church in Erskine.

Because of LaVerne’s allergies, Ulie used his beekeeping skills to secure a job in the drier climate of Texas, working for Texas A&M College as a bee inspector. The two lived in a travel trailer and moved around the entire state of Texas, while Ulie inspected bee yards. They spent much of the Texas winters in the Rio Grande Valley near Brownsville. In their retired years, LaVerne and Ulie would once again return to winter in the Rio Grande Valley.

In 1957, Ulie left Texas A&M to start his own beekeeping practice in Roanoke, TX. LaVerne put her financial skills to work by running the business side of the operation. Ulie and Laverne’s honey business did quite well. They built a new building for the business on the outskirts of Roanoke. There is street in Roanoke named Benson Ave, where the honey-house was located, a building which still stands today. In 1960, their son, Dwayne, was born.

In 1969, suffering from a degenerative hip problem, Ulie was forced to retire from his beloved honey business. Working bees involved heavy, manual labor. Instead, Ulie and LaVerne acquired LaVerne’s family farm near Erskine and returned there in 1972. Ulie and LaVerne built a new house on the farm site, completing it in 1973. The house still stands there today, 3 miles south of the junction of highways 2 and 59. They rented out most of the farmland, keeping hay fields and pastureland for raising cattle.

LaVerne loved to host large Bensen/Kraft reunions at their farm, especially on the 4th of July. These gatherings had been known to exceed 100 people.

LaVerne and Ulie sold the farm and built a new house in McIntosh, Minnesota in 1988. The farm home site was purchased by Karl Erickson and Sue Rasmussen. During the new home build, LaVerne and Ulie lived at the Gunhild Bensen farm, next to their old farm. It was while staying at Gunhild’s farm that they celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in 1988. They did not get to celebrate a 50th anniversary as Ulie passed away in 1994, after 46 years of marriage.

During her life in Minnesota, LaVerne was an active member of Grace Lutheran Church in Erskine. LaVerne and her sister, Vivian, were a famous vocal duet, performing at almost every church in the area. LaVerne was a good-spirited person and enjoyed the fellowship of people. She loved gatherings and was blessed with many friends and family.

Survivors include her son, Dwayne (Melissa); sister, Vivian Hanson; granddaughter, Hayley; and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Ulysses; and brother, Chester.