Benjamin E. Shore

Services for Benjamin E. Shore, 88, Lawrence, will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at First Presbyterian Church. Graveside services will follow at Edwardsville Cemetery.
Mr. Shore died Tuesday, April 6, 2010, at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
He was born Aug. 11, 1921, in Kansas City, Kan., the son of Benjamin Harrison and Kathryn Vogel Shore. He graduated from Wyandotte High School.
Mr. Shore began his business career at Home State Bank in Kansas City, Kan., as the bank messenger and assistant bookkeeper. He was then employed at North American Aviation. He became supervisor of the Production Control Department, then left to serve in the U.S. Army Air Corps.
His wife joined him at the Army Air Corps Transmission Base in Roswell, N.M., where as an instructor, he trained pilots on multiple World War II bomber aircraft.
Mr. Shore’s father-in-law, Dr. S.R. Reynolds, arranged with the grand master of the Masonic Order of Masonry in Kansas for him to become a Master Mason in seven days by special dispensation. His company commander, also a Mason, allowed him to leave the base and return to Kansas to become a Master Mason.
Mr. Shore was eventually discharged from his military service at Fort Sheriden, Ill.
Under the G.I. Bill of Rights, he studied at Lake Forest College and Kansas University, earning a degree in science in 1949.
He received state recognition as the manager of radio station WCNT in Centralia, Ill. After graduating from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute of Organization Management, he served as head of the chamber of commerce in Rantoul, Ill.; Cairo, Ill.; Clarinda, Iowa; Beaver Falls, Pa.; Danbury, Conn., and Laconia, N.H.
Mr. Shore received a number of U.S. Chamber of Commerce awards, as well as statewide recognition for contact and follow-up on industrial prospects, including the Iowa Development Commission Grand Award for effort and successful accomplishment.
In conjunction with the U.S. Department of State and the Chamber, he was host for two foreign dignitaries learning the operation of small communities in the U.S.
Mr. Shore co-sponsored World Championship Sled-Dog races and organized the Laconia (N.H.) International Snowmobile Championship hosting international contenders. He organized the Citizen Task Force of the state of New Hampshire and was its executive director.
In 1969, Mr. Shore retired from Chamber of Commerce work and moved his family to Lawrence. For 17 years, he was a partner in the Meseraull Printing Co.
He transferred his Free and Accepted Masons membership from the Roger E. Sherman Lodge No. 369 to Lawrence Lodge No. 6, who eventually awarded Mr. Shore with his 60-year emblem.
He was also a member of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, S.J.; and Abdullah Temple. He was past president of both the Abdullah Directors Staff and the Abdullah Lawrence Shrine Club. He was a member of the 100 Million Dollar Foundation for the Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children. He was also a member of American Legion Dorsey-Liberty Post 14 and the 40-8 Voture 786.
He served two years as president of the Jayhawk Kiwanis Club, was an instructor of AARP’s “55 Alive” Driver Education Program and a volunteer escort for Lawrence Memorial Hospital. He also served as a deacon and elder at First Presbyterian Church.
He married Arliene Reynolds on April 25, 1943. She died in 2004.
Survivors include three sons, Randy and wife Mae, Woodridge, Va., Kent and Lynn, Orlando, Fla., and Scott and Kerin, Gardner; nine grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.
A Masonic ceremony will be at 7 p.m. today at Warren-McElwain Mortuary. The family will greet friends until 8:30 p.m.
The family suggests memorials to the Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children, sent in care of the mortuary, 120 W. 13th St., Lawrence, KS 66044.
Condolences may be sent at warrenmcelwain.com.

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