Benjamin Shore

Services for Benjamin E. Shore, 88, Lawrence, will be at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 10, at the First Presbyterian Church in Lawrence.  Graveside services will follow at Edwardsville Cemetery, Edwardsville, KS.

A Masonic ceremony will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, April 9, at Warren-McElwain Mortuary.  The family will greet friends until 8:30 p.m.

Mr. Shore died Tuesday, April 6, at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.  He was born August 11, 1921, in Kansas City, Kansas to parents Benjamin Harrison and Kathryn Vogel Shore.

Mr. Shore graduated from Wyandotte High School.  He began his business career at the Home State Bank in Kansas City, as the bank messenger and assistant bookkeeper; then was employed at North American Aviation.  He became supervisor of the Production Control Department then left to serve in the Army Air Corp.

He married Arliene Reynolds on April 25, 1943, and she joined him at the Army Air Corp Transmission Base in Roswell, NM, where, as an instructor, Mr. Shore trained pilots on multiple World War II Bomber aircraft.

Mr. Shore’s father-in-law, Dr. S.R. Reynolds, arranged with the Grand Master of the Masonic Order of Masonery in Kansas, for Ben to become a Master Mason in seven days by special dispensation.  Mr. Shore’s company commander, also a Mason, had the orders cut, allowing Ben to leave the base and return to Kansas to become a Master Mason.

Mr. Shore was eventually discharged from his military service at Ft. Sheriden, IL.

Under the G.I. Bill of Rights, he studied at Lake Forest College and the University of Kansas, graduating with a degree in science in 1949.  He often talked about his days as a KU student when he milked 13 cows twice a day and studied by the light of a Coleman lantern.

Mr. Shore received state recognition as the manager of Radio Station WCNT (We Cover News Today) in Centralia, IL.  After graduating from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute of Organization Management, he served as head of the Chamber of Commerce in Rantoul, IL, Cairo, IL; Clarinda, IA; Beaver Falls, PA; Danbury, CT, and Laconia, NH.

He received a number of U.S. Chamber of Commerce awards, as well as state-wide recognition for contact and follow-up on industrial prospects, including the Iowa Development Commission Grand Award for effort and successful accomplishment.

In conjunction with the U.S. Department of State and the Chamber, he was host for two foreign dignitaries learning the operation of small communities in the U.S.

He co-sponsored World Championship Sled-Dog races and organized Laconia (NH) International Snowmobile Championship hosting international contenders.  With the cooperation of New Hampshire Governor Walter Peterson and state legislators of both the House and Senate, Mr. Shore organized the Citizen Task Force of the State of New Hampshire and was its Executive Director.

In 1969, Mr. Shore retired from Chamber of Commerce work and moved his family to Lawrence, Kansas.  For 17 years, he was a partner in the Meseraull Printing Company.

He transferred his Free and Accepted Masons membership from the Roger E. Sherman Lodge No. 369 to Lawrence Lodge No. 6 of Free and Accepted Masons, who eventually awarded Mr. Shore with his 60-year emblem.

He was also a member of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, S.J.; belonged to Abdullah Temple; was past president of both the Abdullah Directors Staff and the Abdullah Lawrence Shrine Club.  Mr. Shore was a member of the 100 Million Dollar Foundation for the Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children.  He was also a member of the American Legion Post 14 and the 40-8 Voture 786.

He served two years as president of the Jayhawk Kiwanis Club; was an instructor of AARP’s "55 Alive" Driver Education Program and a volunteer escort for Lawrence Memorial Hospital.  Mr. Shore also served as a deacon and elder at First Presbyterian Church.

He was preceded in death by his wife in 2004.  Survivors include three sons; Randy and wife, Mae of Woodridge, Virginia; Kent and Lynn of Orlando, Florida; Scott and Kerin of Gardner, Kansas; nine grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

The family suggests memorials to the Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children and may be sent in care of Warren-McElwain Mortuary in Lawrence.