Bennion's legacy of service continues to be felt at University of Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — Had he lived to see his 102nd birthday, legendary Utah humanitarian Lowell Bennion would have had it July 26. But his party of choice wouldn't have included cake and candles.

Instead, he'd call a young protégé to give him a lift and set out for the home of an elderly widow. He'd take off his hat, greet her warmly by name and step into her world as a friend simply dropping by for a visit.

Then, he'd motion his young driver to the back door, where a broken lock would be repaired, making the fix seem like an afterthought. Had health permitted, he would have fixed it himself. He'd listen to her pains, dry her tears and take her hands in his as he made his way to the door.

Then, he'd repeat the process at another aging home down the street.

To Bennion — who founded the Utah Food Bank by gathering and distributing surplus food from the back of his pickup — the best part of life was the people he served. Their happiness was his way to celebrate.

So, as a new generation of college students file through the doors at the U.'s Lowell Bennion Community Service Center, most don't remember him personally because he died in 1996. But they will learn much of what he learned the same way he learned it: up close and personal with the elderly, the disabled and the poor.

In anticipation of two upcoming service events at Bennion's beloved University of Utah in the coming weeks (see accompanying box), those who learned and served by his side say there is no adequate way to measure his legacy of leadership. Because he started so many community service programs, they've now grown and morphed into larger entities and subdivisions, much like the food bank, which provided more than 32 million pounds of food to over 150 agencies statewide last year.

Bennion implemented the concept as a program of the Community Services Council back in 1977, after he saw how many people needed the food in the back of his pickup, says Utah Food Bank Director Jim Pugh.

As a 14-year-old camper at Bennion's boys ranch in Idaho, Pugh remembers the energetic man in a wheelchair who came out to inspect their work mending fences or setting fence posts.