John (Jack) Benton

John (Jack) Benton, 82, passed away peacefully on June 15, 2018. He was a loving husband, father, grandfather and a veteran of the Vietnam War.

Jack was born on July 24, 1935 in Newark, NJ to Thomas and Margaret Benton. In 1954, he served as a Corpsman in the Navy where he met a slightly naïve Southern beauty from Arkansas, Alpha Woodell.  Alpha and Jack were married on 25 October 1957. After being discharged from the Navy he joined the Air Force as a Laboratory Tech until his retirement in 1975. During his tenure in the Air Force he was deployed to Vietnam and awarded the Bronze Star.

After the Air Force, Jack worked 21 years as a Civil Servant at the Brooke Army Medical Center as a Microbiology Medical Tech. He retired from Civil Service in 1998 and lived with his wife Alpha in Live Oak, TX.  He worked in the City of Live Oak Planning and Zoning Committee for 3 years after which he gratefully left this foray into City Government to concentrate on swimming, reading, gardening and being a grandfather.

Jack and Alpha sold the homestead and moved West to Albuquerque, NM to be with more grandchildren in 2015.

Jack is survived by his wife, Alpha; brother, James; daughter, Jacqueline; son, Thomas; 5 grandchildren, Katy, Jackson, Erin, Claire and John. He is preceded in death by his sister, Helen; and brother, Thomas.

A memorial will take place on Friday June 22, 2018, 3:00 p.m., at FRENCH – University, officiated by Chaplain Joseph Mark Kamphuis, Captain USAF. In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to be sent to the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) at www.dav.org.