Paul Anthony "Tony" Benedetti

Paul Anthony “Tony” Benedetti, age 92 of Grants Pass, died Saturday, October 25, 2014 at his home.

A celebration of life will be from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Saturday, April 18, 2015 at Josephine County Fairgrounds Flower Building. Hull & Hull Funeral Directors are in charge of arrangements.

Tony was born on July 8, 1922 in Parkdale, Oregon and grew up there on the family orchard and graduated from Parkdale High School in 1940. He began driving truck as soon as his legs reached the pedals. His dad taught him to drive the Model T on the family farm and he began driving for hire delivering milk before he was old enough to have a driver’s license. During his high school years he drove truck every morning before school and during the summers. In 1942 he joined the United States Navy and served on the USS Alabama (BB-60) in the North Atlantic and South Pacific from 1943 to 1945. In 1945 he married his high school sweetheart, Mary Wampler. They settled in the Portland area and began raising a family that eventually included three children. After his discharge in 1945, he drove bus and trolleys for the Portland Traction Company. As a member of the Naval Reserve, he was again called to active duty in 1950. That same year, he and his brother-in-law, Derral Wampler formed a log truck company, Ben-Wamp Logging Co. In 1952 Tony and Derral moved to Grants Pass from Beaverton to haul logs for the Ford Brother’s Logging Company. Over the years they worked with many logging and road building companies. When Tony retired he turned Ben-Wamp over to his son Doug who operates the company from a base still in the Grants Pass area. He also taught truck driving at Rogue Community College in the 1980’s. On November 14, 1989, he married JoNell in Reno, Nevada. While truck driving was his life, he and JoNell spent many wonderful winters in San Carlos, Mexico.

He was a member of St Anne Catholic Church, Knights of Columbus, Elks BPOE 1584, Log Truckers Association and the U.S.S. Alabama Crewman Association.

His hobbies included elk hunting, trucking, traveling to Mexico, Italy and Africa. He especially enjoyed his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

He is survived by his wife, JoNell of Grants Pass, a brother, David from Falls Church, Virginia; a daughter, Candy Dean; sons, Craig and Doug, all of Grants Pass; step-sons, Mark Smith of Rogue River and Kirk Smith of Bainbridge Island, Washington; 10 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren; many nieces, nephews and cousins.