Charlotte Benson, archivist for west metro area

After retirement, Charlotte (Char) Benson, whose family roots go back to the pioneering days of the 1800s, became an archivist and historical society leader in the Lake Minnetonka area.

She was a descendent of the Stubbs family, for which a bay of Lake Minnetonka is named. Her great-grandfather Elmer Talbert built bridges around the lake, and a great-great-grandmother operated a library in the area.

Benson, a former Sears store manager, died of breast cancer Sunday at her home in Plymouth. The former Long Lake resident was 58.

The Western Hennepin County Pioneer Association museum sits in the old Long Lake School, where Benson and fellow board member Bob Gasch of Cokato once attended.

"The museum was her love here in recent years," said Gasch. "She really tried to bring the museum from the hand-me-down days to modern times."

Benson was a board member and a chief fundraiser for the Pioneer Association that seeks to erect a new building. She modernized the group's current office space, and she organized its 2007 centennial celebration.

"She was a truth-teller. She didn't ice things over to make them just nice. She'd ask the direct questions," Gasch said.

In 1968, she graduated from Orono High School. She worked at the Ridgedale Sears store, and earned a bachelor's degree in political science from St. Cloud State University.

At Sears, she served in regional administration, and in retail posts in Wisconsin and Minnesota, rising to manager of the Willmar store.

She had "wonderful people skills" and knew "how a store should be arranged," said Sharon Carlton of Fort Pierce Fla., formerly of Minneapolis, a retired Sears store manager.

Benson retired in the 1980s, moving to Long Lake.

She was inspired by her father's military service to volunteer at the James Ballentine VFW Post 246 in Minneapolis. Her father, Robert Benson, served with the Navy Seabees on Guadalcanal Island in the Pacific Ocean during World War II.

Benson's sister, Marion Lukawski of Plymouth, said that even as a child, she helped lead the family.

"She was the trendsetter," said her sister. "She knew how to get things done."

In retirement, she had a part-time catering business, and she enjoyed baking for friends and fellow volunteers at the Pioneer Association and the VFW.

In addition to Marion, she is survived by her mother, Susan Benson of Plymouth; her other sisters, Jeannie Henfling of Plymouth, Cindy Gaspar of Maple Plain, Bonnie Harkey of Atlanta and Kathy Sayles of Watertown, Minn., and a brother, Steve Benson of Mound; six nieces, four nephews, five great nieces and two great nephews.

Services will be held at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Catholic Church of St. Anne, 200 Hamel Road, Hamel.