Notes for Bennie Allen CHINNES

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Notes for Bennie Allen CHINNES

EULOGY OF BENNIE ALLEN CHINNES
By Dianne Chinnes

The Chinnes family remembers Bennie Allen in different ways. We
remember him as an adventurer of sorts, as a bit of a wizard who could do
all kinds of wondrous things, and, most importantly, as a gentle, caring
person who loved people, particularly children, and even the lowly
turtle. He left an interesting contrast of memories.

Certainly Ben was a man of daring. I'm sure old-timers in our home
town of Hemingway still remember the day the big bird emerged from the
skies, swooped over the town and landed, at all places, on the high
school football field. It was the strangest touchdown ever achieved in
that little stadium. That feat was easy. What was hard was when he was
told to remove his craft and had to climb steeply over wires that
obstructed his takeoff.

Bennie Allen always loved planes and flying. As a child at the
family hotel (Hemingway Hotel), he built scads of model airplanes.
Camellia Chinnes Lane recalls that Papa, Bennie Allen and Lloyd were all
packed in one room but those model planes had a room of their own. As a
youngster, he saved his money working in the restaurant or cutting meat.
Now, there probably isn't a Chinnes or somebody with Chinnes blood that
doesn't know the meaning of hard work. We've all worked in restaurants
since that was in our blood. (In fact, Lola Eaddy will remember waiting
on tables with Bennie Allen when they were small children.) However, I
know of no other Chinnes that saved money for the reason Ben saved it.
According to Lloyd, while in high school, Ben would hitchhike to Florence
and spend all his hard-earned money on flying lessons. Now it is a long
way from Hemingway to Hanahan, but planes were always in Bennie's life.
What is the old quote: "The difference between men and boys is the price
of their toys?" The planes changed from the notepaper fliers that cousin
C. G. Springs may have made in those country tobacco fields to the toy
plane you could buy at Tommy Grier's country store to the small wooden
models you made with glue from Eagle's Five and Dime. Now, even today
there is some huge plane at that house in Hanahan. The older Ben got,
the bigger and more complicated the airplanes got. What we also have to
remember is in between Hemingway and Hanahan were several trips to
foreign countries and at least a couple of trips around the world. One of
his last real trips was to an airfield to watch the planes land.

Ben took another trip that is amazing. It had to be a long hard
road. A journey few could make. Think about the fact that he went from
the (as we say down-home) "bacco" fields of Williamsburg County in South
Carolina to Lt. Commander it the United States Navy.

Bennie Allen was certainly an adventurer. He volunteered for the
Navy right out of high school but they sent him back home after they
found he had a hernia. He paid his own money to have his hernia repaired
so he could get back in the navy.

But he wasn't just a daredevil. He was a studious man who loved to learn,
then shared that knowledge. In high school, some of the smarter students
wouldn't compete with him for the highest history award because everybody
knew he would win.

Despite his macho record, Bennie Allen was a kind and gentle man. Lloyd
said Ben was never "boisterous." Bud Skidmore of S.C. ETV recalls him as
a "wonderful, quiet, unassuming gentleman." Bud's wife was quick to add,
"if you remember anything about Ben Chinnes, it must be his love for
children and how he taught the children." Ben and Virginia retired to an
almost hidden paradise called Edisto. They quickly became involved in
everything on that island, from politics to the historic society, to the
church, to the school, where he set up the math department. He tutored
Skidmore's son and helped him over some math hurdles.

Ben was delighted when he could help his students learn,
whether they were in elementary or high school or college. Many of you
will remember when he taught in your county school districts and at your
local Tech. He had time for children. Camellia Chinnes Lane remembers
when he once talked away Suzanne Lane's tears when she was in the
hospital. For Suzanne to cry was out of the ordinary but for Ben to care
was natural.

Benny influenced other members of the Chinnes family. Jimmy
Chinnes said, "all my life, I looked up to him." Steve Chinnes said: "He
seemed to care about us and was interested in each one." Bennie Allen
had an impact on my brother, Joe, who noted "he and Uncle Ed were one
reason I got interested in electronics." Ben also shared with Joe his
special way to mix sugar for humming bird feed.

Ben loved the things Mother Nature provided. An avid outdoors man,
he had compassion for animals. Aunt Irene remembered when Ben and
Virginia were turtle watchers at Edisto. He would stay up overnight and
mark turtle nests to help preserve an endangered species. Irene used the
words "generous, patient, kind" to describe him. My husband recalls Ben
was quick to buy any of Bob's books just because Bob was married to me
and I was Ben's nieces.

Chinnes Family reunions seemed to have been a way of life. Aunt
Eunice, William and Margie, Joan and Donnis, Bennie and Virginia all
opened their homes and their hearts to host reunions. Now think about
it—how would those of you on the left-hand side of this church like for
those of us on the right hand side to all come spend the day at your
house? Some of us went to the reunions for our parents; others went
because they didn't want to hurt Aunt Eunice's feelings, and finally some
learned they needed to go for themselves.

Our family memories are particularly special. The pride that Ben's
sisters, Eunice and Margie, must have felt when their baby brother
graduated from Purdue and later when he got his master's degree from The
Citadel. The fun and excitement Waney and Benny Allen had—up in that
tree picking those wild grapes. Benny Allen had the scar to prove that he
took the tumble. Just last week, Irene put lotion on that scar on his
arm.

In thinking about what each of you would remember most about him, I
also gave some thought to those not with us today. We know my daddy (Joe
Chinnes) would have been man enough to cry today. With that tear in his
eye, he would have smiled (that contagious smile) and said, "Benny and
Virginia had a good time!" Uncle Ed (quiet, unassuming, unpretentious
Uncle Ed) would have glowed with pride in telling us the details about
Bennie Allen's long list of military honors and his leadership on the USS
Enterprise. Uncle Ed probably would have sent Steve, Ryan, and Aunt Ruby
to look for a picture of the USS Enterprise to show us. Now if Papa were
here…Well, if Papa were here he'd be so old he'd probably would have had
Ben on the Starship Enterprise. Aunt Dewese (genuine, not a phony bone
in her body, and red rosy cheeks) would try to make us laugh by telling
us the story of the car breaking down and Papa going to get somebody to
help push the car up to the house. The youngest son, Bennie Allen, was
left alone to watch the car. When Papa returned with help, the car and
the child were gone. Bennie Allen had fixed the car and driven it home.

The one I am most sure of is my sister, JoAnn Chinnes. In describing
JoAnn's death, her daughter, Micki Strickland, once wrote: "She ran out
of time to live." Since JoAnn died when she was so young she would only
have childhood memories of Ben. Tomorrow would be the anniversary of her
death but if she were here today, JoAnn would remember pretty postcards
from far away places. She would remind you he married Mrs. United States
Navy but she wouldn't tell you her name was Virginia, like my first
name. JoAnn would also describe in vivid details the unbelievable things
"Unka" Lloyd and Bennie Allen could do with ice cream. They could get
behind the counter in the Bus Station (A. & J.) in Hemingway or the
Hemingway Hotel or the Cottage Lunch in Johnsonville and make the biggest
and best chocolate nut sundaes and milk shakes you've ever seen. You
could just tell them what you liked and they would give you double or
triple servings of anything. This ice cream magic would only happen when
the owners (Joe & Anna Belle Chinnes in Hemingway or Eunice & Herman
Lentz in Johnsonville) were not in their restaurants.

JoAnn would also remember dressing in our Sunday best and everybody
wanting to take pictures. It was a special time when our uncle came
home. She would remember he'd always hold our hand.

Years later, when my parents' house burned, Ben visited and pulled
an old worn picture from his wallet and gave it to them. It was a picture
taken in front of a place that many of you will remember. It was across
the street from the Hemingway Hotel, right beside Harry Anderson's
theater, and down the street from Dr. Curtis's drug store. The picture
was in front of Dr. Ulmer's office and Benny Allen was holding his
niece's hands. On one side, JoAnn, and on the other that redheaded
Virginia Dianne. Donnis Lentz will remember that day since he was in
other pictures taken there. At the last family reunion, it was like a
flash from the past when I saw Ben holding Anna Caroline Chinnes's hand.
Our eyes met and he and I shared the memory of JoAnn.

The sports gurus in the family, Donnis Lentz and Keith Lane, will
remember those reunions when Bennie Allen did every double flip and
diving trick that the children did at the swimming pool. Donnis can also
remember swinging from that rope to dive in the water at Red Hill. Some
will even remember Bennie diving from the train trestle to the water.
Lola can smile today and say she introduced Ben and Virginia. Virginia
was home from Columbia College for the weekend. Virginia Poston from
Johnsonville brought Bennie Allen Chinnes a lifetime of happiness.
Throughout my working life, he has sent me clippings and offered me
encouragement and praise.

Irene and Waney's children knew him best as an adult because the
families lived so close. The grandchildren of Benjamin Tillman Chinnes
and Italene Altman Chinnes knew him in their childhood and their parents
knew him in his childhood. All of us knew him in our childhood as a
gentle and caring man. When we grew up, we learned that he was also a
daring and brilliant man. We are indeed rich because we were blessed
with family love. Benny Allen adds to that legacy.

His life was a wonderful trip. We know his spirit still soars.

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