Herb Benham 1925-2016
Herb Benham Jr., a larger than life (and not just because he was a big guy) character who retired to Mammoth Lakes in the late 1980s, passed away at Mammoth Hospital on Wednesday following a bout with cancer. He was 91.
Benham and wife Phyllis were married for 66 years.
Benham, the son of two school teachers, was a World War II veteran who was a combat interpreter (Japanese) and fought on Okinawa. As he said during his 90th birthday celebration last year, “I was attached to a rifle platoon whose job it was to clear out the caves where Japanese soldiers were hiding.”
Upon his return to the States post-war, Benham, whose first job as a ten-year-old boy was picking up tennis balls in exchange for tennis lessons, attended the University of Arizona on a tennis scholarship.
The year after graduation, he met his wife Phyllis on a tennis court in Santa Barbara (where he grew up). They were married within six months and then had six children over the next nine years.
According to Phyllis, she had had a trip planned to Greece at the time, but Herb had said, “If you go to Greece, I won’t be here when you get back.” She chose him instead. They traveled to Greece together later.
In 1954, Herb moved the family to Bakersfield. According to Phyllis, he told her, “Hey, we’ll stay one year, make our fortune, and move back to Santa Barbara.”
They were there 35 years and never moved back.
