Blue for the Alaska sky
As well as fidelity, forget-me-nots
North Star, hanging there on high
Ursa Major lending strength? yes, lots
And so these elements did combine
In artistic inspiration
Benny Benson submitted his design
Which flies over the 50th in our Nation.
This lovely memorial commemorates 13 year old Benny Benson, whose design concept became Alaska's State Flag.
There are several plaques at the site:
ALASKA CENTENNIAL 1867 - 1967
ALASKA'S FLAG
Alaska's flag was designed in 1927 by Benny Benson, age 13, residing at the Jesse Lee Home in this town. This flag is patterned on Benny Benson's design.
STATE of ALASKA
Governor Walter J. Hickel
ALASKA CENTENNIAL COMMISSION
A plaque with an artist sketch of 13 year old Benny reads:
Benny was born in Chignik, a small settlement on the Alaska Penninsula, Oct.12, 1913. He lost his mother when he was four years old after which his father sent him to the Methodist Jesse Lee Memorial Home, then located at Unalaska in the Aleutian Islands. Later the Home was moved to Seward, where Benny stayed until he was 20 years old. Benny was in the seventh grade at the Jesse Lee Home when he designed the flag. Benny submitted the following text with his design: "The blue field is for the Alaska sky and the forget-me-not, an Alaskan flower. The North Star is for the future state of Alaska, the most northerly in the union. The Dipper is for the Great Bear - symbolizing strength."
This is a lovely setting, on the edge of Seward Lagoon, well worth the pause to contemplate....
MORE INFO!!! ==========
City of Seward Parks (
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Benny Benson Memorial Park -
Benny Benson was a 13 year old boy in Seward when the American Legion hosted a statewide contest for the Alaska State Flag. Benny's design was selected and his memorial stands just off Third Avenue (the Seward Highway) and Dairy Hill Lane. For Seward's Centennial Celebration, the Seward Emblem Club #250 has refurbished the memorial. Artist Damon Capurro added Alaska stone to the memorial and replaced some of the blue tiles, part of the Alaska Flag. Wolverine Enterprises also added "The Alaska Flag Song" in art engraved into stone to the west side of the memorial. To see the sheet music, step up onto the stone and look into the rocks on the right side of the state of Alaska, drawn in rock on this side.
[As part of its 2003 Centennial facelift, the] City added to the park ...by removing the bent, single pole which formerly displayed both the US and the Alaska flag. Now three poles fly the US, Alaska and a new City of Seward flag. Though this project would not have been funded without the Centennial celebration and budget, the City's flag and pole will be dedicated to those who lost their lives in the 9-11 attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C.
The Dale B. Clemens Memorial boardwalk was constructed through the partnership of many, including the US Navy and provides access to view eagles, otters, kingfishers, an occasional moose and other wildlife. Feed the ducks near the north end of the boardwalk. Note the interpretive signs along the way.
The Seward Rotary Club volunteers constructed the boardwalk spur and the pavilion on the south side of the freshwater lagoon. The pavilion burned in August, 2000 and was rebuilt to some extent by the Rotary Club. Recently the newest portion of the boardwalk buckled due to frost heaving, so the through-way has been closed. SPRD will dismantle the affected area this summer.
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By the way, the lagoon of water was created by the tsunamis of the 1964 earthquake. To learn more, catch the '64 Earthquake film at Seward's Library during summer months.
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NOTE:
See the original flag sewn by Benny Benson on display in the Seward Library.
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For those who can't get enough info
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Alaska State Flag, and Song, Intertwined Around Benny Benson
Benny Benson was born in Chignik, a small village on the south shore of the Alaska Peninsula on October 12, 1913. John Ben Benson, Jr. was his full given name.
His father, John Ben Benson, was a Swedish fisherman and his mother, Tatiana Schebolein, was an Aleut-Russian. During these years Alaska Native villages were being hit with waves of devastating epidemics and at the age of 3, Benny, his younger brother and older sister lost their mother to pneumonia and lost their house to a fire. This series of events caused Ben Benson, Sr. to split up his family. Benny and his brother Carl were sent to an orphanage in Unalaska and Elsie was sent to Oregon.
The orphanage was called the Jesse Lee Home and it served hundreds of Aleut orphans. The orphanage provided for the children in Unalaska until 1925 and then was moved to a larger facility having a more central location in Seward.
The Flag
In the first months of 1926, Territorial Gov. George Parks was working hard for the cause of statehood. During a trip to Washington, D.C., he saw the flags of the 48 states flying outside the old Post Office Building and after conversing with the postmaster general he was convinced that Alaska also needed a flag to fly alongside the others. He persuaded the Alaska American Legion to hold a contest open to all Alaskan children grades 7-12 to design a flag for the state.
By January of 1927, the contest rules were circulated to schools throughout the Alaska territory. The first stage of the competition was to take place at the local level and each town was to organize a panel of judges sending only the 10 best designs on to Juneau. By the deadline of March 1, 1927, 142 designs were forwarded from around the state .
The contest winner was Benny Benson, a seventh-grader at the territorial school at Seward. His design of eight stars to represent the Big Dipper, placed on a blue background to represent the sky, and the forget-me-not flower, was a unanimous winner by the panel of judges. By May of 1927 the flag design was unanimously adopted by the two houses of the territorial legislature.
On his design submission, Benny had also written some words of explanation:
“The blue field is for the Alaska sky and the forget-me-not, an Alaska flower. The North Star is for the future of the state of Alaska, the most northerly in the Union. The dipper is for the Great Bear – symbolizing strenth (sic).”
The flag was flown for the first time on July 9, 1927. During this ceremony in Seward, Benny was awarded a watch with the flag emblem on it and a $1,000 educational scholarship.
Since the year 1927 was only four years after Native Alaskans received citizenship and the right to vote, this event became a source of great pride to native Alaskans. Natives throughout the state hailed Benny as a hero for winning the contest.
The Words
Lester Henderson, the current commissioner of education, wanted an educational program in 1935 designed to familiarize school children with the new Alaska flag. Marie Drake had assumed the post of assistant commissioner of education in 1934 and suggested that something more was necessary to catch the children’s attention and spark their interest in the flag. “It ought to be a jingle, which the children can easily read and understand, or they won’t remember what it’s all about,” Marie said.
The commissioner immediately challenged her to write just that. In her position, Marie Drake edited and wrote most of the material for the department’s school bulletin circulated throughout the territorial school system. She was inspired by the entire flag story and a patriotic poem about the flag had been percolating in her mind. The poem was then published in the October 1935 edition of the school bulletin. Much of Drake’s poem reflected Benson’s ideas in his design notes.
Alaska's Flag
Eight stars of gold on a field of blue-
Alaska’s flag, may it mean to you
The blue of the sea, the evening sky,
The mountain lakes, and the flowers nearby;
The Gold of the early sourdough’s dreams,
The precious gold of the hills and streams;
The brilliant stars in the northern sky,
The ”Bear” - the “Dipper” - and shining high,
The great North Star with its steady light,
Over land and sea a beacon bright.
Alaska’s flag to Alaskan’s dear,
The simple flag of the last frontier.
Born and raised in Van Wert, Ohio, Marie Drake and her husband Jim, arrived in Seattle during World War I, headed for overseas duty in Red Cross work, in which they had been trained. Soon after their arrival in Seattle, however, the war ended. “We had said our ‘goodbyes’ in the East, so we decided to come on to Alaska which had always been our dream. So Jim came to work in the post office and I, for the Commissioner of Education,” laughed Marie.
In 1958 Marie was honored by the University of Alaska with a honorary Doctorate of Letters, for her personal involvement in the history of the state. They remained for life, which for Marie lasted until March 5, 1963, when she passed away at St. Ann’s Hospital in Juneau.
The Music
Elinor Dusenbury had lived in Haines, Alaska from 1933 to 1936. Her husband had been stationed there as the commanding officer at the Chilkoot Barracks. At the end of his assignment and on the boat leaving Alaska toward her new home in Omaha, Nebraska, she was stirred by a longing for the state to compose a melody for the Flag Poem. Elinor had the skills and passion necessary for the task – she had been the public school choral director and a singer herself.
Carol Davis' book, "Alaska's Flag," quoted Dusenbury: “I wrote the music for Marie’s beautiful poetry from pure, unadulterated homesickness for Alaska! I shed more tears on the boat going out than I ever have, before or since. I had a book on Alaska with the picture of the flag and Marie’s poem. That did it!”
Upon arriving in Nebraska, Elinor wrote the melody for the poem, yet struggled with some of the details for several months. In the summer of 1938 Elinor meet Marie at the Baranof Hotel in Juneau and played the tune for her. Marie was so overwhelmed that she cried with joy. A publisher was secured for the poem and musical accompaniment and when the song and words were released, its popularity throughout the state was enormous.
The territorial legislature adopted "Alaska's Flag" as Alaska’s official song on Feb. 23, 1955. That November the convention was held and a constitution for the state of Alaska was written by the 55 delegates elected from around the state. The setting for this was Constitution Hall on the University of Alaska campus in Fairbanks. In April of the next year, Alaska voters approved the new constitution and it would take effect upon the approval of statehood by Congress. By 1958 Congress had passed the statehood bill and on January 3, 1959, President Dwight Eisenhower introduced Alaska to the United States as its 49th state.
Carol Beery Davis, a longtime Juneau resident and musician, at the age of 95, wrote a second verse in 1986 to "Alaska's Flag."
She described the history of it as being near and dear to her heart. Juneau had been her home during the years of the entire flag song development process. Carol had even published a pamphlet in 1964, titled "Alaska’s Flag," in which she outlined the history and development of the flag story. She interviewed Benny Benson and wrote of Marie Drake and Elinor Dusenbury. She described them as being “long-time personal friends of mine.” Her husband, Trevor Davis, was also on the final selection committee that choose Benson’s design in 1927.
“Using the themes of unity, history, progress and the state’s natural beauty, she carefully composed the verse with her enduring love for Alaska. . . . It was her last gift,” said Davis’ surviving daughter, Constance.
"Alaska's Flag" Second Verse
A Native lad chose the Dipper’s stars
For Alaska’s flag that there be no bars
Among our culture. Be it known
Through years the Native’s past has grown
To share life’s treasures, hand in hand,
To keep Alaska our Great-Land;
We love the northern midnight sky,
The mountains, lakes and streams nearby.
The great North Star with its steady light
Will guide all cultures, clear and bright,
With nature’s flag to Alaskans dear,
The simple flag of the last frontier.
In 1987, Carol gave the words of her second verse of song to the University of Alaska Foundation. Immediately after, an attempt to officially add the second verse to the state song was introduced to the Alaska Legislature. It passed the House but died in the Senate.
In 2002, the 75th anniversary of the Alaska Flag song, Rep. Carl Morgan, from Aniak, introduced House Bill 285. This was the second attempt to officially incorporate Davis’ second verse into the Alaska state song. Morgan stated “It is appropriate to recognize the contributions of all Alaskans, whether it was our sourdoughs who dreamed of gold in the streams nearby or a young Native lad who saw and gave Alaska a flag of great symbolism." On Jan. 24, 2002, the bill passed the House but again it died in the Senate.
Benny Benson
After graduating high school in 1932, Benny left the Jesse Lee Home. He returned to the Aleutians to work with his father on a fox farm at Ugaiushak Island. The price received for furs began to decline so Benny moved to Seattle in 1936. He used his scholarship money of $1,000 to enroll in the Hemphill Diesel Engineering School for diesel engine repair, and in 1938 married Betty Van Hise. The couple's first child, Anna May, was born in October of 1938. Their second daughter, Charlotte Abbot, was born in June of 1940. Benny was divorced in 1950, and he moved with his daughters to Kodiak where he became an airplane mechanic.
Benny had the opportunity to meet up with his sister in the mid 1950s, 30 years after their separation; she died soon after. His brother, Carl, also died in 1965. Due to an old injury, Benny's right leg had to be amputated in 1969, and shortly after, he met and married a former Jesse Lee resident, Anna Sophie Jenks in 1972. He died of a heart attack in 1972 at the age of 58.
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Another nice article about flag waving in memory of Benny can be found at (
visit link) A Flag for Jesse Lee flies in Seward By Dan Walker We Alaskans General Delivery January 28, 1996