Harold Benda was born near Columbus, Nebraska on
August 27, 1910. His parents were
Berthold Benda (1873-1954) and Mary Gisch (1885-1958). Berthold was born in Austria and came to
the U S when he was five years old. The Benda family of Walter, Helen, Harold, Carolina, Robert and
Clarence moved from Columbus to Dawes County, Nebraska in the mid 1920s where
they homesteaded. In the 1930s they
moved to a ranch west of Petersburg, Nebraska. Lucille Stokes was born July 21, 1914 and was raised on a farm
west of Petersburg to George Stokes (1875-1958) and Sophia Warner
(1875-1939). The Stokes family
consisted of 10 children: Laura, Jennie, George, Ada, Mae, Frank, Margaret,
Lucille, Charles (killed in World War II), and Harold. Sophia was born in Roselle, Iowa. Harold and Lucille were married in
Petersburg on November 26, 1936. They
lived in Holt County and then moved to a farm south of Elgin in 1944. They were parents of 10 children. Janice, John, Judy, Joan, Jerry, Julie,
Jeaneen, Jolene, Joyce, and Jill. Janice
married Ray L Pelster and they have five children. John married Linda Moore and they had three children. Judy married Gayle Zegers and they had
four children. Joan married Tom
Johnson. They had two sons. Jerry married Kathy Vetzel. Jerry joined the Air Force in 1962. He served in Vietnam, Japan and
Korea. They had four children. Julie married Dennis Thoms and they had
two children. Jeaneen married Dan Weiniak and they had five children. Jolene married Pat Foss and they had two
children. Joyce married Bob Holliday and
they had two children. Jill married
John Dunning.
Source Unknown: Originally submitted for this website in June 2007