Back when...
A visit with Benny Benson
Resurrection Bay Historical Society
Margie Christiansen visits with Alaska State Flag designer Benny Benson in 1969.
Margie Christiansen visits with Alaska State Flag designer Benny Benson in 1969.
At 13 in 1927 Benson, a ward of Jesse Lee Home in Seward, created the wining design in a contest to create a flag for the Territory of Alaska. He was awarded $1,000, an engraved watch and a trip to Washington D.C. in the contest.
The flag became the state’s flag when Alaska became a state, rather than a territory of the United States, in 1959.
After graduating from high school in 1932, Benson worked on his father’s fox farm on Ugaiushak Island, attended school in Seattle for diesel engine repair.
Over the years he also lived in Kodiak where he worked as an airplane mechanic for Kodiak Airways.
Benson was married twice and had two daughters and several stepchildren and grandchildren.
Benson died of a heart attack in 1972.
A memorial to Benson is at Mile 1.4 of the Seward Highway.
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