John Ben "Benny" Benson Jr. (September 12, 1912 – July 2, 1972) was an Alaska native, best known for designing the flag of Alaska. Benson was age 14 years old when he won a contest in 1927 to design the flag for the

Territory of Alaska The Territory of Alaska or Alaska Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States from August 24, 1912, until Alaska was granted statehood on January 3, 1959. The territory was previously Russian America, 1784–1867; the ...

, which became a

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

on January 3,

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

Life

Early life

Benson was born in Chignik,

, on September 12, 1912. He was a Qawalangin (Fox Islander) Unangan born to a

Swedish-American Swedish Americans ( sv, svenskamerikaner) are Americans of Swedish ancestry. They include the 1.2 million Swedish immigrants during 1865–1915, who formed tight-knit communities, as well as their descendants and more recent immigrants. Today, ...

father, John Ben "Benny" Benson Sr., and

Aleut The Aleuts ( ; russian: Алеуты, Aleuty) are the indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands, which are located between the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. Both the Aleut people and the islands are politically divided between the ...

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

mother, Tatiana Ioannovna Dediukhina, from a village near

Unalaska Unalaska ( ale, Iluulux̂; russian: Уналашка) is the chief center of population in the Aleutian Islands. The city is in the Aleutians West Census Area, a regional component of the Unorganized Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Unalaska ...

. When he was three years old, his mother died, forcing his father to send him and his brother Carl to an orphanage, as Benson's father could not take care of them. Benson grew up at the

Jesse Lee Home for Children The Jesse Lee Home for Children was a former home for displaced children on Swetmann Avenue in Seward, Alaska, United States. It was operated by the United Methodist Church from its opening in 1926 until the building suffered damage from a 1964 ...

and later in Seward.

Fox Farm

After graduating from school in 1932, Benson left the Jesse Lee Home. He returned to the

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a chain of 14 large v ...

to work with his father fishing and, for a time, trapping blue foxes on

Chirikof Island Chirikof Island (russian: Остров Чирикова) is located in the Gulf of Alaska approximately southwest of Kodiak Island. Terrain Chirikof Island consists of of grasses and sedges. Treeless, it lies west of the western tree line in Al ...

and on John's privately own Ugaiushak Island. The rate for furs began to decline, so Benson moved to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

in 1936. He used the $1,000 prize from the flag design competition to enroll in the Hemphill Diesel Engineering School for

Diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

repair. In 1938, Benson married Betty Van Hise. The couple's first child, Anna May, was born in October 1938. Their second daughter, Charlotte Abbot, was born in June 1940. Benson divorced in 1950 and moved with his daughters to Kodiak where he became an airplane mechanic for Kodiak Airways.

Later years and death

Benson met his sister in the mid 1950s, 30 years after their separation. His sister died soon after. His brother Carl also died in 1965. Benson's right leg had to be

amputated Amputation is the removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on indiv ...

in 1969 due to circulatory problems. Shortly after that, in 1972, he met and married a former Jesse Lee Home resident, Anna Sophie Jenks. Benson had several stepchildren and grandchildren. He died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

in Kodiak,

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

, on July 2 of that year, at the age of 59 years old.

Flag design

32 years before Alaska was to become a state, the Alaska Department of the American Legion sponsored a territorial contest for Alaskan children from

seventh grade Seventh grade (or grade seven) is a year or level of education. The seventh grade is the eighth school year, the second or third year of middle school, and the first year of junior high school. Students are around 13-14 years old in this stage of ...

(12–13 year old students) to

twelfth grade Twelfth grade, 12th grade, senior year, or grade 12 is the final year of secondary school in most of North America. In other regions, it may also be referred to as class 12 or Year 13. In most countries, students are usually between the ages of 17 ...

(17–18 year old students). Benson's design was chosen to represent the future of the Alaska Territory. Up to that time, Alaskans had flown only the U.S. flag since the territory was purchased from Russia in 1867. His design was chosen over roughly 700 other submissions from schoolchildren territory-wide in grades 7 to 12. Most other entries featured variations on the territorial seal, the

midnight sun The midnight sun is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the summer months in places north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle, when the Sun remains visible at the local midnight. When the midnight sun is seen in the Arctic, ...

, the northern lights, polar bears, and/or gold pans. For his achievement, Benson was awarded $1,000, an engraved watch and a trip to

Washington, D.C ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

. Benson looked to the sky for the symbols he included in his design. Choosing the familiar asterism he looked for every night before going to sleep at the orphanage, he submitted this description with it:

Legacy

* Mount Benson, a prominent mountain overlooking Seward, was named after him in 1974. * Benson Boulevard, a major east-west thoroughfare in midtown Anchorage, was built in the 1970s and named for him. * Benny Benson Memorial is located at Mile 1.4 of the

Seward Highway The Seward Highway is a highway in the U.S. state of Alaska that extends from Seward to Anchorage. It was completed in 1951 and runs through the scenic Kenai Peninsula, Chugach National Forest, Turnagain Arm, and Kenai Mountains. The Seward H ...

Seward, Alaska Seward (Alutiiq: ; Dena'ina: ''Tl'ubugh'') is an incorporated home rule city in Alaska, United States. Located on Resurrection Bay, a fjord of the Gulf of Alaska on the Kenai Peninsula, Seward is situated on Alaska's southern coast, approxima ...

. * On April 11, 2013, in honor of his centenary, the Alaska Legislature passed SB31, which named the airport in Kodiak "Kodiak Benny Benson State Airport." * Benny Benson School in Anchorage on Campbell Airstrip Road is an alternative school serving the educational needs of students who have been deemed at risk and is part of the Anchorage School District SEARCH program.

In popular culture

*In the

Molly Of Denali ''Molly of Denali'' (stylized as ''MOLLY of DENALI'') is an animated children's television series produced by Atomic Cartoons in association with WGBH Kids, created by Dorothea Gillim and Kathy Waugh for PBS Kids and CBC Kids.

episode "A Brand New Flag", Molly does a presentation on the creation of the Alaskan Flag.

References

External links

The Alaska State Flag
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benson, Benny 1913 births 1972 deaths Alaska Native people American people of Aleut descent American people of Russian descent American people of Swedish descent Flag designers People from Kodiak, Alaska People from Lake and Peninsula Borough, Alaska People from Seattle People from Seward, Alaska