Purple lady of Alpena turns 100
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ALPENA - Eulah Benson turns 100 today with the same mix of grit and sweetness that her family says has defined her since she arrived to the area as a little girl from Detroit.
"The first thing that comes to mind is her capability to do almost anything and her enormous sense of kindness toward others," said her granddaughter, Robin Benson. "She is strong, wise and kind, but not a pushover. She is the matriarch of our family."
Born Eulah Bean to Gus and Reba Bean, she left Detroit for Atlanta, Michigan, as a toddler and then settled in Alpena when she was about three or four-years-old. Relatives say she can still point out which houses and buildings stood when she was a child, who lived where, and where she first spotted William Benson Sr. She decided early that he would be her husband. They married in 1943.
Together they raised three sons - William "Benny" Benson Jr., Robert Benson and John Benson - and later helped raise Robin. John died a few years ago. William Sr. died in July 1999. Benny and Bob still live in Alpena. Grandson Jon Benson, owner of JJ's Steak and Pizza House, "spoils her rotten," Robin said, and Robin lives across the street "to keep her out of trouble."
The couple started Alpena Vending Inc. in 1948 and ran it until 2002. Robin said her grandmother worked the business when many women stayed home, raised a family and still made time for woodworking, building, ceramics, gardening, yard work, collecting spoons and playing a little piano and organ.
"If you want to do something bad enough, you'll find a way," Robin Benson said, repeating the line the family still quotes. Another household refrain, more often from her grandfather, was "Get to work." The standard did not change. "She and my grandfather were hard workers -- she still is within her capacity -- and passed on that value to everyone in the family. You had to work for what you had, and that included everyone."
"She ran a business with her husband when many women stayed home, and she still raised a family and so much more," Robin Benson added. "She was an icon in her day but always humble."
She supported her husband through World War II and a son through the Vietnam War, and she stayed at the center of family celebrations, milestones and hard seasons. In the 1970s and 1980s the couple snowbirded in Kissimmee and later Ruskin, Florida. Later she traveled the world with John, including trips to Italy, France and England.
The biggest change she still talks about in a personal way, Robin said, is technology. She is on Facebook, reads on a Kindle and recently rode with a friend named Graham for ice cream in his Tesla.
A typical day now includes reading, word searches, talking and visiting with family, church and church events, occasional shopping, and television on the History Channel and PBS. She walks every day, on a treadmill or outside. A new pet canary, given as a birthday present, has become a favorite companion.
She has a love for chocolate and all things sweet, especially chocolate and peanut butter, and for the color purple. Church members know her as the Purple Lady. Robin said she is empathetic and kind to everyone and "always reminds you to look for the lesson in all things."
"As a grandmother she always knew what advice to give, how to listen but also how to call you out if you stepped out of line, and she always has good things to say about anyone even if she has to work really hard to come up with something," Robin Benson said. "She is a very positive person who rarely complains about anything, and this positivity I believe is what has kept her healthy throughout most of her life and made her persevere through a few difficult health issues."
Asked about the younger woman in those pictures, Robin laughed. "She has some stories about those younger days I would get in trouble if I told. Nothing too bad, but she had her fun."
The family will mark the birthday with a large party today at JJ's Steak and Pizza House, with surprise entertainment, friends, church family and relatives coming from Georgia and Tennessee. Most of her family is local, including Benny and Bob and grandchildren Jon Benson, Robin Benson, Anna Benson, Billie Jo Foster, Annette Paad and Karen Tovey, along with many great- and great-great-grandchildren.
"She adores her family, neighbors - 'the best neighborhood in the world with the best neighbors' - her church family, friends near and far," Robin Benson said.
Robin said there has not been anything her grandmother has been unable to do. On Tuesday, the Bensons are not trying to sum up 100 years. They are doing what she taught them: show up, bring the family, and find a way to celebrate.