Flashback Friday...Who was Chuck?

Here is why I accomplish and complete

NOTHING.

On the Fixing Vandercar front, Sandy gives me a new assignment for my apartment (long story there), to start in my storage space downstairs.

I grab the first box and it is full of slide trays:

This SHOULD be an easy box to get rid of, because they are not my slides.
They are not mom and dad's slides.
They are not your slides.

They are Chuck and Ruth Benbow's slides.

Several days later (since I brought the box upstairs),
and a couple (ahem, four) hours later (that I spent looking at the slides),
and a google search and 100 sites and more hours later,
I found what I think is an address for Chuck and Ruth's son.

But, in all this meandering (and NOT working on the storage space)...
I have more questions than answers.

Mainly...

Who was Chuck Benbow?

Here's what I do know about Chuck.

1. He was a friend of my dads
2. He and my dad could have passed for twins, having the same haircut, body build and wardrobe.

3. He was married to Ruth.

4. He hung out at the Log Cabin
5. He lived in the small house next to Ellis' house.
6. He seemed to care about us kids a lot (from all the pics I can gather).

7. He had a great smile, a sense of humor and a ready laugh.
8. He was a good golf teacher.
9. He and Ruth moved to Florida.

10. According to Ruth's obituary, they had a son Bruce of Naperville and a daughter, Dorothy Gergely of Crown Point.

My main memories of Chuck are of him teaching me to golf.

I am still unclear as to what possessed my dad to by a thirteen year old girl a set of golf clubs, even tho she never expressed an interest in golf. I remember mom smiling and saying..."they are from your dad" and coaxing me out of my bewilderment (I'm sure all I wanted was a Fleetwood Mac record) and on to saying "thank you." I now realize that he was retiring and was making an effort to spend time with me (which now, breaks my heart a little, especially to know, how I scoffed at the idea of golfing).

When it came time to the actual golf outing, it was Chuck that took the lead. He was a member at Curtis Creek in Rensselaer and I can remember looking to dad for instructions and he said Chuck's gonna teach you...cause all I'll do is teach you how to slice it to the right.

And Chuck taught. He seemed to absolutely not mind having a kid who never held a golf club in her life. I'm sure I slowed down his game and enjoyment of the outing, but he never seemed to mind at all. I would give the world to be back on that golf course again, between those two friends. But this silly girl was more interested in driving the cart, then listening what those two had to say, let alone asking the questions that I didn't know then that I would have now.

The other main memory is Dad showing up with several boxes of darkroom equipment. Apparently Chuck and Ruth had found out that I was taking an interest in photography. Chuck showed up with an enlarger, timer, easels and all kinds of darkroom stuff. All they asked was that I use it and enjoy it. He said that Ruth always wanted to have a darkroom, but that the chemicals weren't good for their septic system. I set up a darkroom "behind the shelves" in the basement and spent hours down there. I used it for several years. Some of that equipment is in that storage space.

Which brings me back to the slides.
I am 90% sure that with the darkroom equipment, they gave me a slide projector and this box of slides.
But looking thru the slides, I don't see them in any of them. There are slides labeled "Charlie" with a man that could be Chuck's dad?? and there is one slide of an older lady that looks a little like Ruth. The slides themselves are pretty retro fantastic. Imagine my gasp of delight when I realized that "our trip from our place to utah to..." was taken in a Gold Station Wagon pulling a silver Airstream!

But, not seeing Chuck and Ruth in any of the slides, I'm not sure if they came from The Benbow's or if they came from Dad's "junkyard job." (which is another basement/garage story in and of itself).

I found a listing for Bruce Benbow in Naperville and am thinking of writing to see if he is Chuck's son and if he can confirm the names on the slides as relations. And to see if he is interested in the slides (see Sandy...I'm getting rid of things in my storage space).

But this brings me back to my question.

Who was Chuck Benbow?

Why didn't we know his kids or did we?
How did he know dad?
What did he do for a living?
Where was he from?
Who are his parents?

I would have asked him myself while we were golfing, but I was too busy being a thirteen year old teenager.

Please send answers if you can.