Frances Benner

We wish to honor our mother, Frances Eddy Benner. She grew up in rural Iowa, attended and graduated from Nevada, Iowa schools, planned to become an elementary school teacher. She attended Iowa State Teachers' College in Cedar Falls, Iowa for a year, dropping out when her parents faced financial hardship. Meeting the qualifications of the time, she was hired and taught in the rural school of Swan, Iowa. She married Paul M. Benner of Rhodes a year later. They farmed near State Center.

Mom was a loving, caring, happy person, big on parental guidance. She was forever correcting our grammar and her quotations were many. "If you can't say something good about someone, then don't say anything at all" was a favorite. 'Sleeping in' was not the usual at our house, even during college years or our adult life when we came home for a visit. "Get up and amount to something!" we would hear in a cheerful voice, which was followed by our groans.

She, along with our dad, passed on a work ethic that has stuck with us through the years. When our father died suddenly of a heartattack at age 51, mom, a greenhorn at business, took over the management of two farms. She resumed college on a part time basis and became a teacher again. She taught in the Rhodes, Iowa schools until retirement age, loving her profession and her students.

Mom also loved her country, her state of Iowa, and the history of both. Conservation of water, soil, and environment was important to her long before it became a politically correct issue. She studied this subject for years and used her knowledge to impress on students and family our need to protect our world for future generations.

Frances Eddy Benner, our mother, died at age 74 on December 2, 1976. 

7/26/94

Paver Inscription:

"Frances Benner
State Center
Family
Teacher
Conservation"