William Benker
1956-02-27 2015-11-26
(The following is an edited version of the obituary/eulogy Bill wrote himself.)
William “Tiny” John Benker of Thornton was born on February 27, 1956, at St. Luke's Hospital, Denver, Colorado. He passed away on November 26, 2015.
Bill grew up in South Denver then moved with his parents to a new home in Littleton. His lower education days were all spent in Littleton, where he graduated from Arapahoe High School. Bill participated in and enjoyed playing football, basketball, baseball, and track and field. He also was a member of the concert choir and first discovered his love of design and drafting while at Arapahoe.
After graduation Bill started his work career at Storage Technology in 1975. He spent 20 years there, achieved two U.S. Patents, and met the love of his life, Gail, whom he later married. He also worked in the Boulder area at two other companies, Exabyte and Micro Motion.
During his years at Storage Tech Bill enjoyed country music and became close with a local country band named Dawson. Band members dubbed him “Tiny”, a nickname many associated with Bill for the rest of his life. He enjoyed golf, playing and coaching softball. Bill also loved the outdoors and went camping and fishing in the mountains as much as possible.
Bill and Gail had three children, daughter Karie, and sons Chris and Sean.
After 30 years of mechanical design, Bill "got tired of ridiculous deadlines and outrageous overtime", so left the engineering field to work at an Ace Hardware near where his home. He became a manager and thoroughly enjoyed playing Santa Claus at the store during the Christmas season.
Bill retired in March of 2012.
William “Tiny” John Benker of Thornton was born on February 27, 1956, at St. Luke's Hospital, Denver, Colorado. He passed away on November 26, 2015.
Bill grew up in South Denver then moved with his parents to a new home in Littleton. His lower education days were all spent in Littleton, where he graduated from Arapahoe High School. Bill participated in and enjoyed playing football, basketball, baseball, and track and field. He also was a member of the concert choir and first discovered his love of design and drafting while at Arapahoe.
After graduation Bill started his work career at Storage Technology in 1975. He spent 20 years there, achieved two U.S. Patents, and met the love of his life, Gail, whom he later married. He also worked in the Boulder area at two other companies, Exabyte and Micro Motion.
During his years at Storage Tech Bill enjoyed country music and became close with a local country band named Dawson. Band members dubbed him “Tiny”, a nickname many associated with Bill for the rest of his life. He enjoyed golf, playing and coaching softball. Bill also loved the outdoors and went camping and fishing in the mountains as much as possible.
Bill and Gail had three children, daughter Karie, and sons Chris and Sean.
After 30 years of mechanical design, Bill "got tired of ridiculous deadlines and outrageous overtime", so left the engineering field to work at an Ace Hardware near where his home. He became a manager and thoroughly enjoyed playing Santa Claus at the store during the Christmas season.
Bill retired in March of 2012.