tom turner

Donald Benge, former owner of the Benge Trumpet Company after his father Eldon's death, has died tragically in a head-on accident with a drunk driver last Friday, April 6th.

Donald's killer, a drunk driving 85MPH on the wrong side of the freeway, smashed head-on into Donald's '88 Cavalier. The drunk was charged with vehicular homicide.

I've heard an unconfirmed report that the killer was an illegal alien. At this point it is a little hard finding out the facts of this entire matter, since LA is a "Sancuary City."

Donald was 73, and he sold the Benge company in 1971 to King . . . 11 years after his own father's tragic automobile death within a block of home.

He later was a co-founder of the Burbank Trumpet Company with Zig Kanstul, his former Benge plant manager. He later sold his share in the company and pursued other eclectic interests, including the "Conquest" board game, exotic coin collecting and fencing.

His coin store was actually at 1122 W. Burbank Avenue in Burbank . . . the same address as the Benge factory when it was open there in the 1950s and '60s.

If anyone finds out any more information, please post it here.

Thanks Donald, for your contributions to the trumpet community. May you rest in peace with your father.

How sad . . .

Tom Turner

Vulgano Brother

Bummer. Found this.

Tragic news from SoCal...RIP Donald Benge - Fencing.Net Discussion

__________________
www.letsbuildhope.org

tom turner

Hi,

The local paper in Valencia has not posted an update to their initial story on this matter. Here's what the original story says, with the link that follows:

By The Signal Staff
Saturday April 7, 2007
Valencia Man Arrested Following Deadly Collision

A Valencia man was arrested Friday for vehicular manslaughter charges after his car collided with another vehicle early Friday on Highway 134, killing the 73-year-old male driver of the other car, according to the California Highway Patrol.

CHP said the Valencia man was driving in the opposite direction while under the influence of alcohol before the collision that claimed the life of the Burbank man. Both men's names had not been released by the CHP as of early Friday evening.

The collision took place shortly after 4:30 a.m. on Highway 134 east of Highway 2.
The 32-year-old Valencia resident was driving at approximately 85 mph in the wrong direction toward a CHP patrol car, according to CHP reports. The CHP unit swerved aside and officers saw the Valencia man's car strike a 1988 Chevrolet Cavalier traveling at approximately 65 mph and being driven by the Burbank resident.

The Valencia man was transported to Huntington Memorial Hospital for his injuries.


The Signal: News for Santa Clarita Valley, California

Tom

screamingmorris

The famous Benge was driving a 1988 Cavalier?
Isn't that the "Bundy" of automobiles?

- morris

RG111

I wish we could up the penalties for DUI and DWI. What a waste of life for such a stupid reason! Lock the b******* up for 20 years!
Roy Griffin

Debacler

This is truly tragic and a sad time for his family, friends and all that knew and loved him. It really underscores the mindless and senseless consequences of drinking and driving when it happens to someone you know and/or can relate to. This tragedy happens countless times all across the nation and I'm sure the world every day. The .08 BAC (the legal limit in most states) limit is still too high and the laws are woefully lenient. I know it can be a real fight around here to get these people prosecuted properly unless someone is hurt or killed. A local officer here was hit head on by a drunk while on his way to back up another officer and will be off work for at least a year and has already had to have two surgeries on his leg. The bad guy is out and about again and the most serious charge he faces out of that is for altering his temporary registration tag to extend the expiration date. We'll extend our prayers for the Benge family during this difficult time.

trptjoe

Donald Eugene Benge was killed in a head-on car crash on a Los Angeles area freeway at 4:30 am on Friday, April 6th. While on his way to a doctor's appointment for tests, he was struck by a drunk driver who was driving westbound in the eastbound lane.
Born on November 4, 1933 in Chicago (along with his twin brother Ronald Elden Benge, d.1973), he and his brother inherited the Benge Company after their father's untimely death (from a car accident) in December 1960. After buying out his brother in 1963, Donald ran the company until January 1971, when he sold it to Leisure Time Industries.
Donald was known internationally as a game inventor, with his greatest success being Conquest. He was also an active fencer, competing at the national level in the Veteran's category.
A memorial service has not yet been scheduled.

Joe Lill

meauxhorn

Rest in peace Donald Benge, maker of one of the finest trumpets in the world. What a terrible and senseless loss.meauxhorn

trptjoe

I want to publicly express my thanks to Donald Benge for his support of my doctoral dissertation. I started working on it in December 2005 but I purposely waited until September 2006 to contact him, as I'd heard from many people that he didn't especially enjoy answering endless questions about his father.

In our first conversation he perked up immediately, as it was clear to him that I'd been doing my homework. I had specific, in-depth questions, instead of the "tell me about your dad" line of questioning.

We spoke and emailed regularly from September to January, when I flew out to Burbank for a face-to-face meeting; he even picked me up at the airport, which, even though it's close by, was darn nice. He had dug out documents and photos which he gave me, with the stipulation that I return the photos after they were scanned. I did, of course, and my understanding is that the cousin has them, which is proper. I have the scans of everything I need. However, Donald allowed me to keep sheet music, documents and other things, as he had no use for them and was trying to downsize in preparation for a future move. Those who were at my lecture/recital in February saw many of these items first-hand, and my Power Point presentation showed many of them, too.

Donald could not have been more supportive; he was even calling old friends such as Irving Bush the week before he died, asking them questions related to my project. Donald last emailed me on the Wedneday before he died (a Friday morning). I added a picture of Donald, taken in January during my visit, along a couple of paragraphs to the front of my site.

Peace be to Donald Benge.

Joe Lill
Chicago, IL
Chicago Benge Resource Site

Richard Oliver

Very nice words, Joe.

Well Done,

Richard Oliver