BENSON, Nellie Marie Earl - Menlo Park, CA - December 4, 2005. Granddaughter of Mormon pioneers and longtime San Francisco and Menlo Park resident, Nellie Marie Earl Benson passed away today in her home in Menlo Park. Family members were present at her passing. She was 98. Her beloved husband, Wesley T. Benson, himself a grandson of Mormon pioneer apostle, Ezra T. Benson, passed away in 1991. Nell Marie was born in 1907 in Bunkerville, NV, the last girl of a family of 19 children. her father and mother, Joseph Ira Earl and Agnes Viola Bunker, were children of stout-hearted families called by Brigham Young to settle the then Southern Nevada wilderness. Nell Marie attended University of Nevada, BYU, Utah State College and UCLA, ultimately obtaining her life teaching credential. She served as a church missionary at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. Returning to Southern Nevada, she taught in one-room schools at Poiche and Parhump. Nell Marie and her husband-to-be, Wesley T. Benson, met at an LDS Church dance in the old Las Vegas First Ward. Married in 1936, the newlyweds moved to San Francisco and lived in the Sunset District. Wesley was an Army major in WWII. In 1953 Nell Marie and Wesley moved to Atherton where they lived until moving to Menlo Park in 1973. Nell Marie was active in numerous church positions, including San Francisco Stake Primary president, and Palo Alto Stake Relief Society president, the LDS Church Women's Auxiliary with then Stake President and late LDS apostle, David B. Haight. She also held positions in the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers. For over 20 years, Nell Marie and Wesley served in the LDS Oakland Temple. Nell Marie is survived by two sons and their spouses: Jerome T. Benson and Carol Ann in San Francisco; and Earl T. Benson and Carol Jean in New York; and grandchildren, Stephanie (Brian Teuscher), Jennifer (Lt. Cameron McCoy, USMC), Joseph (Dawnell), Anne-Marie, Laura; and great-grandchildren, Brandon, Matthew, Andrew and Carter.