THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 19, 1994 TAG: 9406180073
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SHIRLEY BRINKLEY
DATELINE: 940619 LENGTH: SUFFOLK
Nor did his 27-year-old son, Bruce T. Benn.
{REST} After some encouragement from dad, Bruce Benn followed in his father's footsteps as both a teacher and a coach in the Suffolk public schools.
And in the future, he hopes to become an administrator, as his father was before him.
``I've fallen in love with teaching,'' Bruce Benn said. ``I did some recruiting for Suffolk public schools and convinced several friends to go into teaching.''
He wasn't the only Benn son to follow his father's lead.
Benn's eldest son, Mack Benn III, served 12 years as a fighter pilot in the Air Force, and is now a pilot for Southwest Airlines in Texas.
His father is a licensed pilot, who passed his love of flying on to his namesake.
The Korean War interrupted the elder Benn's original plans for an education in dentistry.
Benn, 66, received his bachelor's degree in February 1951.
Since his degree at Bluefield State College in West Virginia was in health and physical education, he was sent to medical school in Japan for eight weeks and later served in the medical corps for 14 months in Korea.
``When I returned home to Suffolk in 1953, they had just completed a new gym at East Suffolk High School and they needed a teacher for health and physical education,'' he said. ``I had been away from home for six years, and my parents wanted me to come home for a short period.
``The job turned out to be a career of 35 years.''
It was through the teaching profession that Benn met his future wife, Marian, in 1955.
At the time, she was a student-teacher in Southampton County. Marian Benn went on to teach school in Suffolk for 34 years.
During his career in Suffolk, Mack Benn was a teacher, assistant principal, principal, coach, athletic director, central office administrator, assistant superintendent and superintendent.
``I've held every position in the school system,'' he said.
He retired in 1988, and now sits on the Suffolk School Board.
A 1984 graduate of John Yeates High School, Bruce Benn had no desire to follow his parents into the teaching profession.
``I said I wasn't going to teach,'' he said. ``I saw my father come home tired and frustrated . . . and there were late hours. But my father told me I was good with little kids in the neighborhood.''
Bruce Benn attended Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Ala.
``I wanted to go to law school and play on the baseball team,'' he said.
He completed his bachelor's degree in political science and pre-law in 1989.
When he returned to Suffolk, Bruce Benn got a job with the Southeastern Cooperative Education Program and was instrumental in bringing programs for severely emotionally disturbed children to Suffolk.
From 1991 to 1993, he taught social studies at Lakeland High School, where he was assistant coach for varsity football and head coach for junior varsity football.
He also coached eighth-grade basketball at Forest Glen Middle School.
This past school year, Bruce Benn taught history at the National School of Excellence in Carrollton, Texas.
In May, he decided to return to Suffolk and pursue a master's degree in administration and supervision at Old Dominion University.
He will be teaching social studies and working with students in an ``at risk'' program in Newport News this fall.
``I would like to teach . . . awhile and then come back as a school administrator in Suffolk,'' he said.
{KEYWORDS} FATHER'S DAY
by CNB