Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
N. Bruce Howe Jr., who actively served the Winona Lake Fire Department and the Kosciusko County Firemen’s Association for 65 years, was honored in December 2003 with Indiana’s highest civilian award, the Sagamore of the Wabash.
On April 30, 1956, while serving as the Winona Lake fire chief, Howe, whose career had been managing the Rodeheaver Hall-Mack Music Company, pulled two brothers, Dale and Jay Benson, out of a burning house. He received a Meritorious Service medal from Gov. Robert Orr for that action in 1988.
The boys, ages 14 and 11, were the sons of John Benson, plant manager of the Free Methodist Publishing House printing operations. The Benson family lived at 203 Seventh St., Winona Lake. Lightning struck the furnace room outside a basement bedroom during the night, trapping the two boys. The door of their room was on fire, and they soon lost consciousness.
Howe, who was then living at the nearby Westminster Hotel, came running to the house and quickly donned an airpack that enabled him to go down into the hot and smoke-filled room and find the boys. That very morning the boys had watched the airpacks being unpacked — their father, John, was a member of the town council which had approved the purchase of the expensive airpacks at the strong urging of Bruce Howe. John Benson was initially reluctant because of the cost, but eventually relented and approved the purchase.
The boys had lengthy hospitalizations, but eventually recovered fully. Jay Benson went on to be magazine editor at the Free Methodist Publishing House and later became president of World Missionary Press, which prints millions of topical Scripture booklets in 337 languages distributed free to 210 nations.
Dale, the older brother, went on to have a distinguished career as a family practice physician in Indianapolis and executive director of HealthNet — the result of his vision to grow two storefront clinics into a quality healthcare system for the indigent neighborhoods of Indianapolis.
Dale Benson wrote a number of books on quality health care, and upon his retirement was given the Sagamore of the Wabash Award by the governor of Indiana. His passion for the underserved most recently led him to serve the indigent Latino population in east Los Angeles for five years.
In a 2012 e-mail to Jay Benson, Howe said, “I think of you and Dale often ... you and Dale are the greatest part of my life ... God has been good to me.”
