TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON, N.J.—Fern Street resident Robert “Bob” Benden has been busy for a century, creating wonderful memories, a loving family, lasting friendships, and much of what we take for granted in the community.
Born on Monday, May 19, 1919, in Brooklyn, New York, Benden, a veteran of World War II, hit the 100 mark last week, celebrating with 125 well wishers at Westwood Elks Lodge #1562.
In between those dates—so much of note. Mayor Peter Calamari and Council President Michael DeSena shared the honor the next day, May 20, of reading Benden’s biography to an audience at Town Hall and on WCTVNJ.
Then, before residents and members of the township ambulance corps and volunteer fire department, and Oritani Bank CEO Kevin J. Lynch, all there on other business, they presented him with a plaque congratulating him on his birthday. All joined in wishing Benden health and happiness and many more years to enjoy both.
With his daughters, Bonnie Trenary, Kathleen “Kitty” Benden, and Lynn Benden; Kitty’s husband, Richard Bendix; and family friend Robert Nowicki at his side, Benden accepted the honor with a firm handshake and warm thanks.
(The family has even more to celebrate: Benden’s niece Maureen Greenquist turned 75 on May 18, and her grandson, Nick Tashjian, shares a birthday with the family patriarch: He turned 9 on May 19.)
Son of immigrants
Robert “Bob” Benden, of 265 Fern St., is the son of immigrants. His parents, Perry Benden of Luton, England, and Margaretta (nee Howell) Benden of London, reached America around 1912. The two met in Brooklyn at a dance for British transplants and later married.
Benden was the couple’s second child and the new baby brother of his 18-month-old sister, Ruth. Benden was 4 pounds at birth, with a heart issue, so the doctors didn’t expect him to survive.
They recommended he be raised in the country, for the air, so two months after his birth the family moved to a small two-bedroom home—the family home until the early 1970s—in Hillsdale.
At 5 Benden began his schooling at a new 12-room schoolhouse: George White School in Hillsdale.
As a boy he earned pocket money by delivering newspapers on his bike and by caddying at a local golf course.
He attended four years at Park Ridge High School, from which he graduated in 1937, along with the other 12 students in his high school class.
Benden was left-handed relief pitcher for the Park Ridge High School team—although he admits he wasn’t that great a pitcher.
After, Benden went to work at the American Can Company in Jersey City. He was hired to work on the milk container line and later worked as a clerk typist before being drafted into the U.S. Army.
You’re in the Army now
Inducted Dec. 9, 1942 in Newark, he joined the Medical Corps to train to as an X-ray technician. He spent one day in Fort Dix, where he was made a corporal, and then was put on a train to Little Rock, Arkansas, for three months of training at the Army’s O’Reilly General Hospital.
From there he was sent to Fort McCoy in Wisconsin for another three months, then was assigned to the 35th Field Hospital in Italy.
He was sent back to the East Coast, to Camp Shanks in Orangetown, New York, the largest U.S. Army embarkation camp during WWII, where after two days he and his unit began their two-week journey aboard a troop transport to Tunis, Africa—the first stop on their way to Italy and the European campaign.
His unit was in Tunis for about three months, after which they boarded a tank landing ship to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Italy.
Arrived in Taranto, his unit learned German aircraft had bombed the ship carrying the medical equipment that had left the day before them while crossing the Mediterranean. A lieutenant and four soldiers were killed in that air strike, and all of the medical gear was lost.
Benden’s unit left Taranto and moved to a small town 30 miles north, where the Army had taken over the school for a field hospital—still lacking their equipment.
(He said he believes this was the first field hospital in the war.)
They remained until new equipment arrived in Bari, Italy, where they met up with it. The unit traveled by freight train to Naples, where his unit was broken up into two field hospital units. Benden’s was sent to Senigallia on the Adriatic, where they again took over a school and made it into a field hospital.
Benden’s unit was attached to the Air Corps, so it was their job to tend to injured corpsmen. They often got busy later in the day, when the corpsman returned from their missions of bombing Germany.
Benden’s bio notes, “It was a happy time for everyone when the Germans surrendered and the war ended in Europe.”
After much-earned R&R, Benden’s unit was scheduled for deployment to the Pacific. However, the war in the Pacific ended with the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, so his unit returned Stateside.
Arriving home on Dec. 1, 1945, Benden was honorably discharged as a technician fourth grade on Dec. 5, 1945, in Fort Monmouth. He received the European-African-Middle Eastern Ribbon, a Good Conduct Medal, and a Victory Medal.
Home to Hillsdale
After the war, Benden moved back to his parents’ home in Hillsdale and went back to work at American Can Company, now as a timekeeper. He worked his way up to production control manager, from which he retired in 1972 after 34 years with the company.
From 1946–1948, Benden was a member of the Hillsdale Volunteer Fire Department. He joined the Fire Department’s softball team and played center field.
He married Viola “Vi” Bilz of Westwood on April 11, 1948, when he was 28 and she was 20. They had their first and only home built in 1949 on Fern Street in the Township of Washington, where he’s lived for almost 70 years.
As money was tight in those early years, he moonlighted as a bartender at the Harmony, now the Doghouse, to help pay for his home.
He also continued his softball career in the Township by playing on the Harmony’s softball team for a number of years.
A family grows
Benden and Vi raised their three daughters, Bonnie, Kitty, and Lynn, in the Township. Bonnie blessed them with three grandsons.
Benden also has a great-granddaughter, 10, the apple of his eye.
Benden and Vi loved to travel, so after his retirement they took a number of car trips, during which they visited every state in the continental United States as well as driving across lower Canada.
They also took trips to Hawaii and Alaska to complete their desire to visit all 50 states.
The couple were avid bowlers, and Benden loved to golf.
After five years of retirement and much travel, he went back to work in 1977 as a custodian in the Hillsdale school system “to help pay those costly green fees,” his bio notes. Benden retired from that position in 1981.
He continued to play golf through his 80s and bowled in a senior bowling league until about three years ago.
Vi, sadly, passed away in October 2000 at 73.
About a year after her passing, Benden was introduced to Margaret “Marge” Keates, a widow, by his dentist, James Keates, who also resides in the Township.
Marge grew up in Hillsdale and had attended Park Ridge High School, graduating several years after Bob. The couple, acquaintances from their childhood years, hit it off right away and ended up having 11 great years together until her passing in 2012.
— and home in the township
Although he doesn’t participate any longer, Benden is a member of the Hillsdale chapter of the American Legion. He lives on his own in the same home in Washington Township where he and Vi raised their family.
He enjoys puzzles, sports on television—especially golf and baseball (his teams are the Yankees and the Mets)—and watching his daily “judge” programs, game shows, and movies.
He loves working and playing on his computer. He checks out his emails and Facebook friends every day and is a master at hearts and solitaire.
Benden is very close to his family, enjoying the holidays and gatherings of family and friends.
Marge’s children are still very much a part of Benden’s life, with their frequent calls and visits.
The bio ends, for now: “Bob looks forward to the start of his second century, an almost unimaginable achievement for most.”