Benson, Adeline L. Age 87, of Eden Prairie (formerly Albertville & Blaine), passed away on February 20th of congestive heart failure.

Preceded in death by husband, James Benson, 2 brothers, Kenneth Neumann & Duane Neumann, granddaughter Melissa McDonald.

Survived by children, Debra (Norm) Scott, Doreen (Bill) McDonald, Daniel (LouAnn) Benson. Grandchildren Matt Scott (Anna), Tom Scott (girlfriend Paige) & Kim (Brian) Pauls. Step-grandchildren Gregg (Carla) Scott, Robyn (Andy) Fitton, John (Christine) Kittelson and Scott (Nicole) Kittelson.

5 great-grandchildren (Cooper, Carson, Caitlyn, Silas & Hanalei). 13 step-great grandchildren (Zak, Jared, Carson, Cameron, Alec, Gavin, Kyle, Kaitlyn, Ella, Tanner, Logan, Ty & Ava).

Aunt Gladi Henry, sister Georgiann Cooper, sisters-in-law Lynn Neumann, Helen Kill, Joan Dablow, and many relatives and good friends.

Memorial service on Saturday, April 27th at Prairie Community Church, 9145 Eden Prairie Road, Eden Prairie, MN. Visitation starting at 10 am, service at 11:00 am followed by lunch.

Adeline Lorraine Neumann was born August 5, 1931 in Cokato, Minnesota. She was the first of 4 children born to George & Ruby Neumann. The young family lived in the Cokato/Howard Lake area until Adeline was about 4 years old. Her younger brother Kenneth was 2 when George & Ruby moved to North Minneapolis about 1935. The family lived in the lower level of a duplex on 5th Ave North.

The family grew when her brother Duane was born. Adeline attended school in North Minneapolis through her junior year at North High School. Adeline was baptized, confirmed, & married at Redeemer Lutheran Church. The family continued to grow when sister, Georgiann was born. (Adeline was 16 years old.) The family moved to St. Louis Park before her senior year and she graduated from St. Louis Park High school.

During her high school years Adeline worked in a dry cleaner as a shirt presser and then in a drug store. After high school she got a job as a typist for the famous cartoonist, Charles Schulz, creator of the Peanuts characters, Charly Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, etc. She says some of the characters were based on certain personalities who worked in the office. At the time, Charles Schulz had a correspondence course to teach young artists. Adeline was involved in the typing of letters to students taking this course.

Adeline met her future husband Jim at a dance on New Year’s Eve in 1950. Their first dance was to “The Tennessee Waltz”. Jim was eager to get married, but she was not quite ready at 19. She met Jim’s family on the farm in Morris and the courtship continued until they were married on December 23, 1951 (almost a year after that first dance). Adeline was 20 years old and Jim was 24.

Daughter, Debbie arrived about a year later when Adeline was 21. The young family lived with George & Ruby for a time and at various apartments for the first few years of marriage. Doreen arrived 2 years later, and they began to search for a home to buy. In 1955, Adeline & Jim moved with young Debbie & Doreen to a new 2- bedroom house in Blaine.  Dan arrived a year later in 1956.

During the early years of parenting, Adeline was a stay at home mom and Jim worked 2 full time jobs. She was very organized and kept a very clean house. She also handled all of the family finances.

When all the children were in school, Adeline began her career at Honeywell at the New Brighton arsenal on an assembly line. She had many clerical skills to work in an office, but the pay was low and required lots of dress clothes. The hourly pay and generous benefits of factory work was appealing.

Adeline had a very organized mind and was able to share time-saving ideas with the engineers who designed the assembly line. She handled some components that could explode if dropped.  She excelled at her job and was recognized and rewarded for her ideas. Once she received a $3,000 bonus which was a lot of money in the 1960’s. Adeline enjoyed the comradery of fellow workers and was in the same car pool for many years. Adeline had to retire at age 58 because of her heart issues.

In her early 30’s, Adeline begin to experience pressure headaches on the left side of her head. It took 2 -years of doctor visits to diagnose a brain tumor (with the lack of technology at the time). Brain surgery was recommended to remove the tumor but there was little hope that she could resume a normal life afterward.

At the age of 34, she survived the surgery and a long recovery process began. Fortunately, the tumor was not cancerous. Removing a tumor the size of a tangerine resulted in the loss of hearing in her left ear, loss of eye sight in her left eye and a loss of feeling and muscle control on the left side of her face. She struggled to talk, eat and control her left eyelid. With all of these losses she did not give up. With therapy and determination, Adeline returned to work at Honeywell in less than a year. Family members, neighbors, and church were very supportive during her remarkable recovery.  She taught those around her to persevere and not give up.

As the kids grew Adeline and Jim started camping, fishing and boating. In the winter, snowmobiling was very popular in the neighborhood so, they joined a snowmobile club to plan group outings. Adeline planned several family vacations to Texas, South Dakota, & Yellowstone National Park as well as many state parks in Minnesota.

Fishing became more of a focus when Adeline’s parents developed some lake property on Platte Lake near Onamia. For many years they enjoyed staying in an RV on the property. Eventually a cabin was built. With a need for more space, Adeline & Jim acquired a small cabin across the lake. Platte was a very good fishing lake. Lots of great memories of family fishing expeditions. A life- long love of fishing was born. As the years went by, having a cabin became too much work.

In their empty nest years, Adeline & Jim traveled extensively. They enjoyed bus tours in Canada, National Parks, Niagara Falls, New York City, Washington DC and nearly every state in the US. They also enjoyed cruises to Alaska, Panama Canal, western & southern Caribbean islands. Adeline & Jim loved fishing on their pontoon boat. They bought an RV and parked at a seasonal campground on Clearwater Lake near Annandale. A golf cart brought them and all their fishing gear down to the lake where their pontoon was docked. Lots of fun and great fish fries were enjoyed by the entire family.

Adeline was also the financial manager for 2 family owned businesses (Jim Benson’s Welding & Dan Benson Machining). She paid the bills, filed the taxes and processed payroll. She was very organized and attentive to details.

In 1999, Jim & Adeline moved from Blaine to the Cottages of Albertville, for maintenance free living. With her financial skills, Adeline was treasurer for the home owners association for many years. They joined a new church plant – Alleluia Lutheran and got involved in this community. Adeline joined the Red Hatters and also served as treasurer for the organization. Both Jim & Adeline joined the Golden Agers club in St. Michael. They made lots of new friends in their neighborhood, church and community.

After Jim’s passing in July 2013; Adeline moved to Elim Shores senior community in Eden Prairie in February 2014. She enjoyed 5 years of independent living, was involved in nearly all the group activities and developed many friendships. Adeline especially enjoyed playing cards and learned to play bridge at 85 years old. Weekly Bible Studies, Bingo and field trips were some of her favorite activities.

Memorials are preferred to Elim Shores elimshores.org/walking-path-gardens-project/

Private interment at Morningside Memorial Gardens in Blaine.

Cremation Society of Minnesota 952-924-4100

Published on April 21, 2019