Benjamin E Mann

Benjamin E. Mann, a former long-time resident of Marblehead, MA, passed away peacefully at BrightView Senior Living in Danvers on Monday, October 16, 2017 at age 92. Born in Boston on October 15, 1925, he was the son of the late B. Percy Mann and Amy E. (Mayo) Mann, who raised him and his sister, Amy, in Canton. He graduated from Governor Dummer Academy in Byfield in 1943, and went on to serve our country in both WWII and the Korean War as a hospital corpsman with the U.S. Navy.

Between September 1948 and the summer of 1950, he and new bride Barbara "Bobbie" (Leonard) lived in Manati, Puerto Rico, where Ben worked at a pineapple company. After moving back to the U.S., Ben and Bobbie purchased a house in Marblehead, where they lived for 60 years. Ben worked for 40 years as the Production Supervisor of the John Boyd potato chip company in Lynn and also dedicated many years serving as the assistant treasurer of the Lynn Home for the Elderly. Ben had been a long-standing member of The Beach Club in Swampscott, enjoyed a social membership at Tedesco Country Club in Marblehead, and ushered at the Unitarian Church in Lynn.

He was a kind, generous man with a good sense of humor, who loved animals and excelled at several sports in his youth. He liked working on jigsaw and crossword puzzles and, when he got a computer, adventure video games. He also liked playing cribbage and bridge, watching mystery/sci-fi/adventure movies and British comedy on TV, and reading detective novels. He was renowned for his exceptional meat-carving skills at family dinners, and for the aroma of the pipe tobacco he used to smoke long ago.

Ben is survived by his wife of 69 years, Barbara L. Mann, and their three children and families: Ben Jr. and wife Priscilla of Dunstable, MA; James B. Mann, wife Catherine, and their three children: Philip, Lara, and Sean of Wilmette, IL; and Deborah M. Johnson and husband Andrew of Harvard, MA. "Uncle Ben" is also survived by many nieces and nephews, including his sister's children and their families: Chip Dixon, Rusti Dixon, Sally (Dixon) Klingel, Nancy Dixon, and Patty Dixon. Ben is predeceased by his sister, Amy M. Dixon, of Glastonbury, CT.

The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, you direct gifts made in his memory to the Maine Community Foundation, 245 Main Street, Ellsworth, ME 04605. Please indicate that the donation is for the "Winona Campership Fund." For more information, contact Winona Camps (207) 647-3721. These tax-deductible gifts will continue Ben's tremendous legacy at Winona, the summer camp on Moose Pond, Bridgton, ME, that he attended as a camper and counselor from 1934 to 1943, and where he first met Bobbie at a dance with Winona's sister camp, Wyonegonic.

Ben's final resting place will be a niche in the chapel at Waterside Cemetery in Marblehead. At the request of the family, funeral services will be private, under the care of Eustis & Cornell of Marblehead, 142 Elm St. Marblehead, MA.