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Ben Mendenhall dies at 87
By Ralph Pokorny
Nevada Daily Mail
When you drive around Nevada on our nice smooth streets, say a silent thank you to Dr. Ben Mendenhall, because he was responsible for them.
Dr. Ben, as he was affectionately know by his friends, died Sunday and some of the public spirit that makes Nevada what it is died with him. He was 87.
Dr. Ben cared for his community and he showed it by his service to the community on the city council and the streets and infrastructure committee as well as privately, in ways that were not known.
And in 1979 he was selected Rotary Citizen of the Year in recognition his service to the community and chaired that selection committee for many years.
Dr. Ben was first elected to the city council in 1961 and was mayor in 1962. He was re-elected in 1964 and was again selected as mayor in 1966.
In 1994 he was appointed to chair the mayor's ad hoc committee on streets by then Mayor Richard Meyers. He continued to serve as chairman until he retired from the committee due to his health in 2010.
He was again elected to the council in 1995 to replace Cindy Wells and was re-elected in 1997, serving as mayor in 2000, and left the council in 2002.
Former City Manager Craig Hubler said, "Dr. Ben brought peace back to a divided City Council in 2000. I'd just joined the staff, and the City Council elected Ben as mayor. From an employee's perspective, it's nice to rely upon the judgment of your mayor, who's telling you where he wants to go, and willing to help when you need guidance on how to do it. Particularly, when almost everyone on the council shared Ben's vision. That allowed us to focus on getting it done, and we did. We (the mayor, council and staff) were a very talented and productive team."
"He loved the streets. He wanted everyone to have nice streets," Annette Crews, Nevada city clerk, said Monday afternoon.
Crews said that Dr. Ben cared for the entire community and he tried to make sure that each year when the street committee selected streets to be paved with money from the city's transportation sales tax, the projects would be scattered all over town, not just in one area.
"He wanted to be sure no one got favored," Crews said.
"He gave us great guidance for many years," said John Haggans who served on the street committee with Mendenhall for many years.
"He deserves the credit for the quality of streets Nevada has," Haggans said.
Nevada Housing Authority director Carol Branham said that Dr. Ben was one of the original five housing authority commissioners when it was started in 1969 under the direction of Hugh Millard.
He was also a big supporter of parks and recreation, Branham, who is the past director of parks and recreation for the city of Nevada, said.
"He was very pleased when the permanent parks sales tax passed," she said.
Branham said that Dr. Ben always had a passion for kids and that he was always asking her if there were any kids in need and if he could do something to help as a silent partner.
"He always worried that kids would go without food," she said.
"As with so many of the World War II generation who returned to help Nevada grow, Ben served with honor and helped hold in check those (very few, fortunately) who had burdensome private agendas to keep in check ... and Ben married well. too."
Branham said that when you got Dr. Ben, you also got his wife "Ruthie" who served on the Nevada R-5 School Board for many years. "They were a team."
"If there ever was a community champion, it was Dr. Ben," Branham said.
He also cared a great deal about his patients. He spent a lot of time keeping up with the latest methods of caring for his chiropractic patients.
If you were one of his patients he would always find the time to help you.
James McKenzie, who served on the council with Dr. Ben, wrestled while he was in high school and said that on more than one occasion Dr. Ben helped him when he was hurt during a match -- even when he returned from a match at 11:30 at night.
McKenzie also noted taht said even though his eyes were shut at times while he was listening, Dr. Ben was always paying attention to what was being said. When the discussion among the other council members was finished, Dr. Ben would weigh in on the issue, and people listened to him.
"Today a lot of people are afraid to serve on the council because of repercussions for they say -- not Dr. Ben," McKenzie said, adding that he always treated people fairly.
"He was a sweetie. He will be missed," Annette Crews said.