Benjamin Diggs

Salem - Benjamin Haywood Diggs, 94, of Keizer, Oregon passed away peacefully at his home on June 28, 2019. He was born into a farming family in a small panhandle town of Tell, Texas on April 17, 1925. It is here during the years of the Great Depression where he was raised with his older brother, Olen, by his mother, Maude Jewel and father, Benjamin H Diggs senior. It was a time of hardship where the common currency was hard work, providing for family and faith in God when all other resources were scarce. These traits and beliefs defined him throughout his life. Ben was a WWII vet and served in the Army Air Corps, supporting air campaigns from Calcutta, India. After the war, he joined his mother and step-father, Maude and Dewey McCall, who had emigrated to Stayton, Oregon to help them start a strawberry and green bean farm. It was a paradise compared to the dry panhandle of Texas and it was here he stayed to marry and raise a family. In 1950, he married the love of his life, Marie Johnson of Independence, Oregon. Marie passed in 2006. Ben joined the great technology industry of his day and began a life long career in the telephone industry by joining the Western Electric Company, then Bell Telephone, then several independent companies. He retired to Keizer McNary Estates in the 1990s. Through his life Ben had many interests. He enjoyed team sports, hunting, fishing, trap shooting, playing golf and flying airplanes. He loved poetry and music and played the guitar. Ben is survived by three children, two step children, 9 grandchildren, 18 great grandchildren, and 5 great great grandchildren. One grandson preceded him in death. Arrangments made by Restlawn Memorial Gardens and Funeral Home.
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