Lester Benner, 94, a longtime resident of Snowflake, passed away on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2015, at Summit Healthcare. He was awaiting heart valve surgery at the time of his death. Services were held Feb. 2 at Valley View Southern Baptist Church in Snowflake.
He was born in Worland, Wyo., to John Leroy Benner and Katherine Fink Benner on Jan. 12, 1921. Les came from a family of 11 children and was raised on the Hammond Valley Ranch in Montana. Younger brother Willie Benner is the only surviving sibling.
During his youth, Les farmed, cowboyed and was a Golden Gloves boxer. Later, he was a general contractor in Billings, Mont. After he moved to Snowflake, Les did a lot of heavy equipment work for ranchers in the area.
On Sept. 11, 1943, Les married his sweetheart, Victoria Elizabeth Yonkaitis. They were married 71-plus years and were absolutely devoted to each other. They had six children, Linda (Ray) Tetschner of Billings, Vicki (Terry) Owen of Snowflake, Les (Nancy) Benner of Billings, Sandy (Rick) Porter of Casper, Wyo., Elaine (Mike) Lambrecht of Billings and Pamela Marchant of Snowflake. Les and Vicki had 13 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren.
Les achieved many things during his lifetime, but his greatest achievement was his family, all of whom miss him immensely. His children, grandchildren, and sons- and daughters-in-law would describe him as eternally young, positive, strong, stoic and fun loving. All who knew him enjoyed his wit and sense of humor.
We know Les is at peace but for now, we are not–we miss him.
Owens Livingston Mortuary of Snowflake was in charge of the arrangements.
