Harvey Benson

Harvey "Harv" Alvin Benson passed away peacefully in his sleep at his home on May 1, 2021. He was born on June 17, 1936 in North Germany Township rural Sebeka, Minnesota at the family farm. His parents were the late Alvin and Marie (Grewing) Benson. He was the second oldest of nine children. He attended District #31 North Country School through 8th grade and went to Sebeka High School. Harvey was a member of the Minnesota Army National Guard.

When he was 17 he and his friend Leonard Thompson were adventurous and took a month long trip to Oregon where they worked in hay fields and picked strawberries for gas money which wasn’t enough and eventually had to ask for money from Leonard’s sister for gas money to return to Minnesota. That didn’t deter him from a future trip a couple of years later with Leonard; they embarked on a road trip to California for a couple of weeks. Harvey returned to California later alone and worked for his Uncle Chet Grewing at his auto mechanic shop.

Harvey moved back to Minnesota and farmed. He was married in 1965 and was blessed with three sons: Morris, Chad & Larry.

He worked as a union heavy equipment operator working on many roads in the State of Minnesota and many subdivisions in the metro area. Retiring in 2001.

He also was the owner of “Harvs” convenience store in Sebeka for a few years.

He was a talented mechanic and was always fixing something; he was a wealth of information if you had to troubleshoot a problem. Enjoying it best when he was working side by side with his beloved grandson Brody, who was the apple of his eye. If your car had an unusual sound, he was your guy. He had a keen ear for hearing if something wasn’t right.

Harvey enjoyed many years of retirement helping his son Morris farm, working on tractors, making hay, going to auctions finding “treasures” , having coffee at McDonalds spending hours visiting and just spending time with his family & friends. He most definitely was a social butterfly.

Always a friend, he will be dearly missed by his family and friends. Preceding Harvey in death are his parents Alvin and Marie Benson; siblings: Audrey, Ilene, Curtis, Duane, and Marvis “Toddy”.

Harvey is survived by his sons: Morris (Cindy), Chad and Larry. Grandson Brody; siblings: Gloria (Darrell) Lake, Dennis (Nancy) Benson; Gary (Ann) Benson; and numerous nieces & nephews and many other relatives and a host of friends.

He will be laid to rest at West Lyons Cemetery on Saturday, June 26, 2021.

A Celebration of Life will be held at the

Sebeka Event Center, 100 Frontage Road, Sebeka, MN 56477

at 5:00 p.m. following the burial.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Harvey Benson, please visit our floral store.