Edgar Charles Benson

Charlie was born in Dover Delaware on June 14, 1959, the first child of Martha and Ed Benson. He soon became the older brother of Sonja and William. Despite his developmental disability, Charlie was a smart fellow. He was very observant and had a great memory. He was known for remembering such things as the directions to his grandmother’s house. He could identify people in photographs years after meeting them. He could be relied upon to remember when certain TV shows, like 60 Minutes and Lawrence Welk, were airing. He also learned to ride a bicycle, to print his first name, and to operate the stick shift in his sister’s car from the passenger seat. He learned to read a few words, like “Fire”,” Danger” and “Exit”. In his younger years, he loved to take things apart and try to put them back together. He could often be seen with a tool in his hand. No visit to someone else’s house was complete until Charlie had a chance to see the heating/AC system and their vacuum cleaner.

Charlie’s love of music was legendary. His father played the piano at home, and for a time, the organ at church, so Charlie got his love early in life. He acquired an enormous record and CD collection over time, and his taste ranged from organ music through Rogers and Hammerstein show tunes, orchestral, piano and brass music. His biggest love though, was Christmas music. To preserve the family sanity, Thanksgiving was the day that Christmas music came out, and this day was greeted with great excitement.

In addition to the joy he found in listening, Charlie loved all aspects of caring for his collection, from cleaning off the dust on the needle on the record players, cleaning the records, inspecting and re-organizing his collection. It was always amazing to find that, after removing ten or more records for inspection at one time, he could accurately return each record to its correct jacket cover. No matter where we went, he always wanted to get back to his records.

We never knew why Charlie was so fascinated by pictures of wolves and only wanted to wear T-shirts with wolves on them. Another unknown origin story was his interest in seeing police chases, people getting hand cuffed, and going to prison on T.V. shows. Charlie could busy himself for hours working on his (play) mail, which was junk mail that his mother would take the paystub and mail back envelopes out for him to fill out. He had old return address labels and stamps for the envelope. He even had his own (fake) checks his sister ordered for him.

Charlie also liked to see trains, probably because years ago, he got to ride in the engine of one and an engineer friend let him sound the train whistle. Also, maybe because he got to ride the train with his grandmother from Chicago to Milwaukee one time. He loved to use his Polaroid camera and sometimes would get a really good picture of someone’s furnace or vacuum cleaner.

Charlie had 2 graduations from Special Ed classes he attended, wearing the cap and gown both times. One in Savannah when he was 18 and one in Denver, when he was 21. In 1986 at the age of 27 ½, Charlie went to live in his first home away from home. It was called the Good Shepherd Home of the West in Littleton Co. He enjoyed all the activities they planned like camps in the summer, riding horses, swimming and skiing in the winter on the bunny slopes at Winter Park. He also enjoyed the celebrations they had for birthdays and holidays. Charlie entered the workforce as a participant in a sheltered workshop. For a time, he acted as a busboy in a pizza restaurant, and for many years, he was a box folder in a busy pizza take out place, a job that he loved and looked forward to.

The love between Charlie and his family was mutual. Charlie loved spending time with and hearing about his grandparents and all his aunts, uncles, cousins, and old friends and continued to remember them through pictures and stories long after they were gone. Charlie made friends wherever he lived, and among these were several very special connections that he cherished all his life. Charlie leaves behind a doting mother and a loving brother and sister, and he is already badly missed.

In lieu of flowers, family requests memoriam donations in Charlie's honor to Boys' Town, The Salvation Army or

Bethany Lutheran Church - https://bethanylutheranchurch.snappages.site/giving