Alvin A. Benson

Pioneer Alaskan Alvin A. Benson, 81, died Aug. 7, 2011, at the Alaska Veterans and Pioneers Home in Palmer.

Visitation is at 11 a.m., Aug. 15 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Pioneer Peak Ward, 560 W. Arctic Ave., Palmer. Services are at noon with Bishop Brian Player officiating, followed by a reception at the church. Burial with full military honors is at 3 p.m. at Fort Richardson National Cemetery.

Born Jan. 4, 1930, in Golden Valley, N.D., Al attended school in Wisconsin.

Joining the Army in 1950, he served honorably and with distinction in the Korean War and was a decorated member of the 5th Company Rangers and 187th Airborne Division. During his three years of service, he was awarded the Korean Service Medal with four Bronze Stars, Combat Infantry Badge, Army Occupational Medal (Japan), the United Nations Service Medal and four Purple Hearts.

In 1955, Al, his wife Margaret (“Peggy”) and son Brian, moved to Fairbanks, where they lived briefly before settling in Anchorage in 1956. In 1991, Al and Peggy purchased a farm in Palmer, where he worked horses and gardened.

An avid outdoorsman, he enjoyed fishing and hunting with his horses. He loved quarter horses. Al trained champion Labradors and participated in retriever field trials.

After an initial job with M-K Construction Co. at White Alice sites around the state, Al worked as a foreman for many of the utility contractors and installed many of the underground water and sewer lines in Anchorage neighborhoods. He could tell you what kind of soil was around the house you were about to buy, how the garden would turn out and if you would have any foundation issues.

He was a member of the Sons of Norway and Laborers Union Local No. 341.

Survivors include his wife, Margaret Benson of Palmer; children and their spouses, Brian D. Benson (Elise Glover) of Anchorage, John RA Benson (Sally Bentley) of Paris, France, and Anne M. Williams (Dale) of Anchorage; grandchildren, Gunnar Benson (Ashley), Kirstin Boyd (Alex), all of Anchorage, Sophie and Quinn Benson of Paris, Lydia Nelson of Palmer, Zachary Nelson of Portland, Ore.; great-grandchildren, Freyja Boyd, Austin Azeltine and a third expected in November; siblings and their families, Myrtle Heim of Chicago, Calvin Benson of Mason, Wis., Sylvia Caron of Ashland, Wis., and Goldie Mead of Erda, Utah.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations to the charity of the donor’s choice.

Janssen’s Evergreen Memorial Chapel cared for the family.