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Ben, Senior, and Gertrude both worked for Gerlach-Barklow in Rochester, a company started by King Gerlach, the husband of Ben’s sister, Ruth. Ben later joined Simmons Mattress as a salesman and continued a sales career that included R.J. Strasenburgh, The Todd Company and Seagram’s. He had served in World War I as an Army sergeant and second lieutenant and re-joined the Army as a captain in World War II commanding prisoner of war camps.
Gertrude, who had one brother who survived infancy, was the oldest of three VanDeWalle sisters. Both of her parents were of Dutch ancestry. She had an excellent aptitude for numbers and worked in accounting positions throughout her life.
Ben, Junior, entered kindergarten in Rochester and continued his elementary education in the City Schools. His school was near the Rochester Red Wings baseball field (Norton Street in those days) and he sometimes watched ball games from the attic window of his Uncle Willis VanDeWalle’s home.
Ben moved to Laurelton School in the adjoining town of Irondequoit beginning in fifth grade. He continued there through eighth grade, graduating in a formal ceremony as the salutatorian. Throughout school, Ben enjoyed arithmetic, spelling, and acting in plays and operettas. There were many opportunities for recreation including neighborhood baseball, winter snow sledding, Twelfth Night tree bonfires, and occasional Halloween mischief.
Favorite childhood memories include exquisite ice cream molds and delicious red raspberry ice from Maggs Ice Cream & Catering, owned by Ben’s Aunt Edith VanDeWalle Maggs and Uncle Dick Maggs. Their ice cream was well known to Rochester residents until Aunt Edith retired and closed the business in 1964.
At age 12, Ben joined Boy Scouts (Troop 123 at the Congregational church at Winton Road and Tryon Park) an association that would later prove to be life changing. He also participated in many YMCA activities including visits to Camp Cory on Keuka Lake. His family occasionally camped at Halliburton Lake northeast of Toronto, Canada.
Entertainment included radio programs such as Amos and Andy, Little Orphan Annie, Jack Benny and The Shadow. Their RCA radio brought in news from Lowell Thomas. Ben remembers seeing the aviator, Wiley Post, and the Postmaster General, Jim Farley, on visits to Rochester. He heard the Christian musician, Homer Rodeheaver. At an elementary school assembly, he saw Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan demonstrate how they collaborated to permit Miss Keller to communicate.
These were the years of the Great Depression and bread was five cents for a loaf. Ben’s dad managed to earn a reasonable income throughout these difficult years. Many people grew large gardens and saved money by walking, bicycling, or using streetcars. Some classmates quit school at fourteen to help their families earn money.
Ben started high school at Webster High since Irondequoit did not offer high school in those days. In May of the ninth grade, however, the family moved to Syracuse and he enrolled in Onondaga Valley Academy, a public high school. He played ran track and, over his mother’s objections, played football. Ben took advantage of Syracuse winters and its hills to learn to ski.
He rejoined Boy Scouts (Troop 13) and began to attend Sunday school at South Presbyterian Church. In Scouts, he camped regularly including at Camp Woodland on Oneida Lake. With fellow Scouts, he traveled by train to the New York World’s Fair in 1940 and toured Manhattan including a visit to an automat. After extra effort to earn the lifesaving merit badge, Ben earned the rank of Eagle Scout.
In July 1941, he participated in Empire Boys’ State with his classmate, Dick Clark. Ben graduated from high school in 1942 and enrolled in Syracuse University in September as the World War raged. Ben’s dad left for the Army and his mother moved to an apartment on Euclid Avenue, closer to the University.
Ben transferred to Cornell University in September 1943 to participate in the Army Specialized Training Program. Everyone in the program took the same classes and ate as a unit in Willard Straight Hall. Ben’s platoon included three Protestants, one of whom was black, six Catholics, and sixteen Jewish students. At the end of the quarter, they were brought into the Army for basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Along with 300 others, Ben was assigned to 87th Division and arrived at Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina on March 30, 1944. Ben ended up in the 347th Regiment in the Mines and Booby Traps Platoon of the Anti-tank Company. While training at Fort Jackson, Ben and a buddy sometimes hitchhiked around the state. He enjoyed gracious hospitality in Charleston and, on at least three occasions, in Orangeburg…a small city that would become his home nearly twenty years later.
By October, training was completed and they sailed for England. They were housed near Liverpool. A visit to the city revealed the war’s destruction and showed the Americans the hardship suffered by English civilians. They soon sailed to Cherbourg, France and moved forward to Metz. They were soon in combat and Ben’s platoon did the dangerous work of clearing mines and booby traps. While in the Saar region, Ben’s platoon had just cleared a road of mines when several U.S. vehicles stopped. General Patton asked who was in charge and spoke to Ben about what they were doing before driving on his way.
Ben survived several close encounters with injury or death. Each situation was unusual and gave him the feeling that the Lord was with him. After a hot turkey dinner on Christmas 1944, Ben moved out for Pironpre, near Bastogne. He helped mine a bridge and, later, crawled into the open to repair a break in the wire that could be used to detonate the bridge. He survived machine gun fire and was later awarded the Silver Star for this action.
On January 5, 1945, there were many casualties in Ben’s regiment. At about four o’clock in the afternoon, a German mortar shell exploded near Ben leaving him unable to move, face down in the snow. He expected to die and prayed “into Thy hands I commend my spirit”. But, God had many more years of earthly work for Ben. His buddy, Phil Feldman, applied first aid and, soon, a team of litter bearers, including his friend, Carlton Shaw, took him to the aid station.
Surgery and recovery would take months and many moves. Ben traveled first to Plymouth, England, then on to a hospital in Wales, and eventually by ship to Charleston Navy hospital. Ultimately, he was transferred to Halloran General Hospital on Staten Island and continued his recovery until discharge on August 29, 1945.
Ben resumed his studies a few weeks later at Cornell University and graduated in Administrative (Industrial) Engineering in 1948. He joined a student work trip to Europe sponsored by the Westminster Fellowship. He traveled through Belgium and France before returning to Holland for orientation on the work that would be done in Goettingen, Germany. The group helped with rebuilding before breaking up for more travel. While in Switzerland, Ben attended a meeting at Beatenburg Bible Institute and heard many speakers including Billy Graham. As the summer ended, Ben returned to the States on a Dutch troop ship.
Ben decided to forego graduate school at Syracuse University and returned to Germany where he took a job as a U.S. government employee in Munich’s Quartermaster Depot. The work involved work measurement and, later, financial management.
A young waitress at the Depot restaurant caught Ben’s eye and he was soon courting Maria Malushizky, a displaced person from Ukraine. He eventually learned enough Ukrainian to ask Maria’s parents permission to marry. Her family was allowed to immigrate to the U.S. in 1951 and Ben and Maria married in October in Syracuse.
Ben found a job as an industrial engineer for Eastman Kodak’s Hawkeye Division in Rochester. The couple joined Brighton Community Church where they made many dear, lifelong friends. A first child, Paul was born in 1952 and then Daniel arrived in 1955. In 1957, Ben decided to join the Kelsey-Hayes Corporation in Utica. Soon after moving, Marsha was born. Maria told Ben, who had wanted six children, that she had given birth to her three and that now it was his turn!
Kelsey-Hayes decided to move its Utica Tool Division to a new plant in the southern United States. Ben, who was part of the selection team, broke the tie between Little Rock, Arkansas, and Orangeburg, South Carolina, with his fond memories of visits in his Fort Jackson days. In November 1962, the family moved to Orangeburg. Ben and Maria continue to live in this lovely small city on the Edisto River.
Ben’s responsibilities grew and he became plant manager for the Utica Tool operation employing 700+ people. In 1966, he was appointed to the Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical Education Commission. He was elected Chairman and served for 34 years guiding the construction and growth of the Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College. Ben owned several companies and worked in engineering management for several others, eventually retiring from American Yard Products in 1996.
Ben has always been active in church work, helping to build Brighton Community Church in Rochester and Harts Hill Baptist in Utica. In Orangeburg, he joined First Baptist Church and served in many capacities including deacon. He taught an older men’s Sunday school class for over thirty years, eventually catching up to his class in age. He has also been a member and leader in the Orangeburg Lions Club.
Ben’s many contributions to his community were recognized in 2000 when he was selected as Orangeburg’s Citizen of the Year.