Retired Couple Has Led Busy Life

RACHEL DICKERSON/MCDONALD COUNTY PRESS Ben and Mary Gann are pictured at their home in Noel. The couple has led a busy life.
RACHEL DICKERSON/MCDONALD COUNTY PRESS Ben and Mary Gann are pictured at their home in Noel. The couple has led a busy life.

Retired Noel couple Ben and Mary Gann have led a busy life.

Ben grew up in Noel. When he was in high school he traveled with his uncle to California to build houses for a big company and then went to Arizona and built barracks at Luke Air Force Base, he said.

"I've stayed busy all my life, just about," he said.

He graduated from Noel High School in 1960 and went into the Army for two years at Fort Jackson, S.C., followed by six years in the National Guard. While in the National Guard, he was working for Ralson Purina in Noel. Ralston Purina sold to Hudson Foods and he put in 20 years with Hudson. Then he became a printer at Walmart Printing Marketing Distribution Center for 18 years. He had a heart attack, which forced him to retire.

Now Ben enjoys making wooden toys and crafts in his workshop. He makes birdhouses, toy trains, toy cars, toy guns, toy airplanes, etc.

"I've got a little shop. I've got a little table saw and band saw and router. I do this in my spare time," he said. He goes to craft fairs to sell his creations.

"I go to Coffeeville, Kan. We go to the one in Southwest City every so often," he said. He also occasionally goes to Renaissance at Gravette, he said.

Ben also likes to garden, fish with his granddaughters and help his granddaughters with their cattle.

Ben served two terms on the Noel City Council.

Mary grew up west of Anderson and went to school at Southwest City. She was one of 18 children.

"We traveled every year. We went to Utah and California. My older brother and sisters would work picking tomatoes and beets in Utah. We'd come back with all our food for the winter," she said.

She and Ben married in 1962. She didn't work while their children were growing up, but she later worked 18 years at the Noel School lunchroom as a cook.

The couple has four daughters, 10 grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.

"We enjoy them," Mary said.

She noted, "I used to bake cakes. I made all kinds of cakes -- weddings and birthdays." Now she only makes cakes for her grandchildren.

Mary does not have as many hobbies as Ben, but she occasionally enjoys cooking a dinner for all of her grandchildren, she said.

General News on 07/27/2017