William Behnken

Funeral Services: Will be held on Saturday, September 2, 2017, at 10:30 a.m. at the First Lutheran Church, rural Wiota, Iowa with burial in the First Lutheran Cemetery. A luncheon will be held at the church following services at the cemetery. Pastor Mike Bodkins will officiate the service. 

Family Visitation: The family will greet friends on Friday from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Steen Funeral Home in Massena. 

Memorials: To the Bill Behnken memorial fund to be established by the family at a later date. 

William Claus Behnken was born April 3, 1938, the son of William and Lillian (Anderson) Behnken in Cass County, Iowa. He passed away on Wednesday, August 30, 2017, at the Caring Acres Nursing and Rehab Center in Anita, Iowa, at the age of 79.

Bill was raised in the Massena area and graduated from Massena High School. On October 13, 1962, he was united in marriage to Lila Lydon in the First Evangelical Lutheran Church, rural Wiota, Iowa. To this union five children were born: Brian, Teresa, Cindy, Blaine and Nicole.

Bill farmed his whole life, until his health forced him into retirement. However, he kept busy working to restore his '57 Ford Fairlane 500. He loved to have a wrench in his hand tinkering on something. His friend, Varel Schmidt, raced at the Adams County Speedway where Bill volunteered as a mechanic for the crew. He truly loved it, and continued to follow the Spieker, McKee and other racing teams. Over the years, Bill has served as a Cass County Supervisor, Township Trustee, a member of the FSA County Committee and has been a lifetime member of the First Evangelical Lutheran Church. He loved his grandchildren, and helped his son Blaine re-establish the trumpeter swan population in Iowa. He was a great husband, dad, grandfather, brother, uncle and friend to everybody. His love for traveling took him to Alaska, Hawaii and Mexico.

He was preceded in death by his parents; wife, Lila in 2016; two sisters, Norma Harris and Beverly Bergmann; and one brother, Robert Behnken.

He is survived by his five children, Brian Behnken (Rhonda) of Massena, Teresa Meek (James) of Bondurant, Cindy Armstrong (Russ) of Greenfield, Blaine Behnken (Kim) of Massena and Nicole Behnken (Chad) of Altoona; nine grandchildren, Brent (Josyln) Behnken, Joshua Behnken, Kaleb (Tara) Meek, Andrew Meek, Jordan Armstrong, Tanner Armstrong, Payton Armstrong, Mallory Behnken and Natalie Behnken; one great grandson, Emmitt Meek; sister, Mary Gallo (Bill) of Council Bluffs; other relatives and friends.