Carl Benne
Carl Eugene Benne was born on June 28, 1932 to William H. and Katie May Benne. He was the eighth born of twelve children. Including Carl, there were five boys and seven girls.
Carl attended Chisholm School for his first grade in September 1938, the one room school consisted of grades one through eight. He walked to school two miles with his two sisters and one brother. In the late summer and early fall of 1940, the family moved to a farm located at the northeast corner of Pennsylvania and Coffee Creek Road. There Carl attended a country school named Prairie Bell. It was also a two mile walk to school and back. After two years, the school closed. The students were transferred to Deer Creek School west of Edmond, Oklahoma.
Growing up on his family’s farm taught him horsemanship skills that blossomed into an affinity for rodeo.
Carl’s first public job was at Rodkey’s Flour Mill downtown Edmond for 2 years. He then worked at Tinker Air Force Base and retired after 37 years.
Carl served in the United States Army from July 1952 to April 1954. He took his basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. He served in Korea from January 1953 to April 1954 with the 16th Combat Engineer. They built roads and cleared mines. He was discharged at Colorado Springs, Colorado. He held the rank of Staff Sergeant.
Carl married Mary Lou Stewart of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on July 27, 1956. They had two children, Carl Wayne Benne and Kimberly Dawn Benne.
For decades, Carl Benne’s name has been synonymous with the rodeos at the Edmond Round Up Club. Carl first joined the Edmond Round Up Club when he was just 8 years old. The location of the arena at that time was on Bryant between Danforth and Edmond Road (2nd Street), where Kickingbird Golf Course is presently located.
Carl’s first official role with the Edmond Round Up Club was Parade Marshall, then moved on too other roles throughout the years, including serving approximately 30 years off and on as President.
Alongside his passion for rodeo, came his passion for his team of Percheron Draft Horses. Carl’s presence was well known in all the parades with his horse drawn wagon, buggy, stagecoach and his hand built 30-person trolley. Aside from parades, he was hired for weddings, proms, neighborhood Christmas time caroling, shopping centers and parties of all kinds.
In 1966, when the Edmond Round Up Club was set to move to its current location, Carl Benne stepped forward with others to help design and build an arena. Carl was passionate with maintaining the arena, visiting and recruiting club members and enjoying watching its growth over the years. He enjoyed watching all those grandkids of the guys he started out with participating in the junior rodeos.
In 2003, the Edmond City Council voted to name the arena for the club’s long-term member and former President Carl Benne.
Carl Benne passed away on March 15, 2020, just over two months after losing loving wife of 65 years Mary Lou.
