Benny Benson

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John Ben "Benny" Benson, Jr. (1913-1972) was part Russian-Aleut and part Swedish. He was born in Chignik, Alaska. When Benny was four years old, his father was forced to send him and his brother Carl off to boarding school after his wife passed away. There was no way he could look after all his children. Benny grew up at the Jesse Lee Children's Home in Unalaska and later in Seward.

Benny and Carl's cubby holes still exist in the former Jesse Lee Home in Unalaska.

In 1926, at age 13, he entered a contest to design the flag for the Territory of Alaska, and he won.

After graduating high school in 1932, Benny left the Jesse Lee Home. He returned to Aleutians to work with his father in a fox farm at Ugaiushak Island. The rate for furs began to decline so Benny moved to Seattle in 1936. He used his prize money of $1,000 to enroll in the Hemphill Diesel Engineering School for diesel engine repair, and in 1938 married Betty Van Hise. The couple's first child, Anna May, was born in October of 1938. Their second daughter, Charlotte Abbot, was born in June of 1940. Benny divorced in 1950 and moved with his daughters to Kodiak where he became an airplane mechanic for Kodiak Airways.

The Territory of Alaska became a state in 1959, and the territorial flag Benson had created became Alaska's state flag.

Benny met his sister in the mid 1950s, 30 years after their separation, she died soon after. His brother Carl also died in 1965. Benny's right leg had to be amputated in 1969 due to an injury which he sustained long back. Shortly after that, he met and married a former Jesse Lee Home resident, Anna Sophie Jenks in the year 1972. Benny had several stepchildren and grandchildren. He died of a heart attack on July 2, 1972, in Kodiak, Alaska at the age of 58. The Benny Benson Memorial is located at Mile 1.4 of the Seward Highway in Alaska.