Dwight "Ben" Bender Obituary (1952

COURTESY LISTING FOR THE FAMILY OF DWIGHT "BEN" BENDER The Celebration of Life for Ben Bender, 68, will be Friday, June 25th at 2pm at New Covenant Church, 117 W Kansas St., Smith Center, KS. In lieu of flowers our family requests donationS be made to Alpha-1 foundation for research and awareness of the condition. https://www.alpha1.org/how-to-help/help-raise-funds/donate/ Hospice Foundation of America https://hospicefoundation.org/Donate Or a local hospice care organization. Or Plant a tree in his honor as he loved Planting and growing trees . Thank you to you and Everyone for reaching out with thoughts, prayers and kind words. ____________________________ Dwight Dale (Ben) Bender born December 17, 1952 in Lincoln, NE to John and Lova (Patterson) Bender. He departed this life on June 17, 2021 at home in Stratton, NE. Ben grew up a little bit of everywhere being the son of a pastor, Weeping Water, NE, Yankton, SD, New Castle, NE, Steineauer, NE and then graduating from high school in Wiggins, CO while his parents served the church there. Following high school he enlisted in the Army and was stationed at Fort Hood in Texas. After a 2 year hitch he was honorably discharged and eventually ended up in Red Cloud, NE. There he met Teresa Secrest and they were married and were blessed with two children, BJ and Gretchen, the marriage ended in divorce. In Red Cloud he began working for the City where he was a lineman for 14 years. During this time he met and married Lisa Peterson on June 4, 1987. The couple made their home with her two children, Lance and Chandra, on a little piece of land they called Trinity Acres and enjoyed raising dogs, horses, chickens, goats, and a steer or two, before moving to Colorado to pursue a dream of living near the mountains and working on a ranch. After several years of ranching and farming he moved on to a position with the Denver Rescue Mission at Harvest Farm where he spent 19 years counseling, mentoring, loving and leading people to Christ through a work therapy program. Ben had found what he was meant to do at Harvest Farm, cultivating crops and lives through the farm's various workings. His interests and hobbies included spending time gardening, planting trees, kayaking, target shooting, training animals, making walking sticks to use himself and to give away as gifts to others. He loved taking rides in his old Chevy pick up truck he named "Lucille". He always liked things that were old and rusty (see Lucille) with a lot of character and would always ponder who would have used them in the past. His greatest joy in life was spending time with his Queenie and his kids and grandkids. He was preceded in death by his parents, John and Lova Bender; father- in- law, Robert Peterson, and an infant sister. He is survived by wife Lisa, children Lance (Amilyn) Stange, Chandra (Barry) Bailey, BJ (April) Bender, Gretchen (Julian) Spittka; grandchildren Emeline, Jalen, Braden, Brock, Bryson, Jett, Della, Brielle, Bronson, Brynnley, Lova, and Conrad. Also surviving are his siblings Tom (Pat) Bender, Peggy (Frank) Kroeker, Connie (Tom) Hybiak and his mother-in-law, Zelma Peterson. If he had a mission statement for his life it would have been "Tell as many people as you can about Jesus, and as a last resort use words".