Ben Mason Sr.

Born September 1, 1922, son of Dr. and Mrs. C.H. Mason of El Paso, Texas, Ben Mason
passed away on January 24, 2014 in his home in Ruidoso, NM.

He attended Coldwell elementary school and Austin High School in El Paso, graduating from Austin in 1940, valedictorian of his class. He entered MIT to study chemical engineering, but his education was interrupted by his enlistment in the Army Air Corps shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack, where he served in the Pacific Theater as a B29 navigator.

On his return from overseas, he married his fiance, Betty Carolyn Graham. With Betty, he went back to Massachusetts and completed work for his degree at MIT. He earned his Masters degree at the University of Texas. Betty, an experienced stenographer, worked as a typist for a burial insurance firm in Austin to supplement the GI Bill stipend that supported college education for war veterans. Then, and always, Betty has continued to be his support and spiritual anchor.

Upon returning to El Paso, he opened Farm Service Laboratory, an agricultural testing
laboratory. The results of his soil and water tests in the agricultural areas of Texas, New
Mexico, and Chihuahua became the foundation for a large database of soil and water qualities throughout the Southwest.

Following several years of business involvement in agricultural chemicals and equipment, he sold his interests and returned to academic work, earning a PhD at NMSU in 1975. From that time until his retirement, he worked as a consultant in agricultural practices and water matters under the firm name Water Conservation Studies. He was an appointed consultant to EPA and also did pro bono engineering work serving on the technical advisory committee for the El Paso Water Plan and the technical committee that established a sanitation order for colonias in El Paso County. He provided engineering support for the establishment of El Pasos Wilderness Park.

After retiring at age 73, he moved with Betty to Ruidoso where they built a new home on the site of a cabin erected by Bettys father, C.E. Graham, in 1936. Bettys and Bens forest home on the Rio Ruidoso was a continuing hub for the extended family, bringing all together for summer vacations, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and spring breaks.

During the drought of 1996, he became a founding member and longtime technical director of the Ruidoso River Association, Inc., a charitable corporation formed to preserve and protect a healthy and free flowing Rio Ruidoso. Over the years, the Association disbursed several million dollars in environmental grants joined with the USGS to meter the river worked with the Mescalero Apaches on a joint drainage plan for Ski Apache and on thinning watershed forest. Obtained approval of the Village administration to review the chemistry and simplify the configuration of an existing pumpback facility, greatly reducing operational and maintenance costs of the Grindstone system. The Association carried out annual river cleanup drives, and introduced environmental biology classes into the Ruidoso school curriculum.

He loved the Ruidoso canyons and mountains and hiked every trail with his son, soninlaw, daughter, and grandsons. He served on the vestry of his Episcopal Church of the Holy Mount, taught an adult literacy class for the New Mexico Literacy Council, and was a longtime volunteer for the Lincoln County Food Bank. He was a member and officer in the El Paso and Ruidoso Rotary Clubs.

Last year on his 90th birthday, the Village of Ruidoso and its mayor Ray Alborn honored Bens long service to the community by naming the lower North Loop bridge Mason Crossing.

He is survived by his wife, Betty Graham Mason, a sister, Mary Yelderman of El Paso, his daughter, Deborah Howe of Houston, his son, Ben Y. Mason, Jr. of Marina Del Rey, California, grandsons Ben Howe of Dallas and Bryan Howe of Houston, granddaughters Julia Mason of Houston and Hayley Dickson of Los Angeles, and greatgrandson Mason Howe of Dallas.

Funeral services will be held on Friday, January 31st at 3pm at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Mount in Ruidoso, NM. The family has asked that in lieu of flowers, those wishing to make a donation consider the new Church of the Holy Mount Bell Tower being dedicated to the memory of Ben Mason.

Episcopal Church of the Holy Mount
BYM Memorial Bell Tower
121 Mescalero Trail
Ruidoso, NM 88345