John William Benson II

John William Benson II, 82, passed away on Thursday, August 21st, 2025, after a lengthy battle with Dementia and Lung Cancer.

He was born in Worcester, MA on September 29th, 1942, a son of the late John (Jack) and Edith (Anderson) Benson. Both his parents were born in the USA from Swedish immigrants.

John graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering. While in college, he and his rock and roll band had a long-standing gig at many of the local fraternities. After college, he was employed by US Motors and travelled all over the United States as a service technician repairing industrial controls. John and his friends Jon Blanchard and Roger Crawford had a boat building business called Yankee Fiberglass. The Finestkind 17-foot salt-water fishing boat, which they built, were featured in Motorboat Magazine in 1975. Some are still floating to this day!

John later worked at Burton Industries in Pawtucket, RI serving as a design engineer. Shortly after, John decided to start his own business, J-Con Systems Inc., building control panels for industrial machines. His company was contracted all over North America servicing companies such as North American Rubber Thread, Ford Motors, and Cape Cod Potato Chips. He continued designing and building control panels until he retired in 2016.

John and his family lived in Attleboro, MA for 35 years, in a farmhouse built in 1724. While living here, he and his family rebuilt the entire house, one room at a time, and built furniture that would accentuate the rustic charm of the property. He moved to Bedford, NH in 2022 to be closer to his son and his family. Over the years, John enjoyed many hobbies including salt-water fishing, surfing, motocross, aviation, music, bicycling, Dungeons & Dragons, model trains and airplanes, designing and building electric basses and guitars, and rebuilding his tractors. He was a huge fan of Monty Python, and his sense of humor and smile will be greatly missed.

Surviving family members include his wife and best friend of 46 years, Ingrid (Laurell) Benson; son, Anders Benson, his wife Kaitlyn and grandsons Delsin and Theo, of Manchester, NH; brother, Kurt Benson, and his wife Caroline of Narragansett, RI; his brother-in-law Jon Laurell, his wife Catharine, and nephew Paul Laurell, of Chatham, MA; brother-in-law Peter Laurell and his wife Lynn, of Angelton, Texas and his nieces Felicity Winnett and Courtney Laurell Bosch of Lockhart, Texas.

Calling hours will be held from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM on Friday, August 29th, 2025 at the Phaneuf Funeral Home; 243 Hanover Street, Manchester, NH. Memorial service to follow at 12:00 PM at Phaneuf, and luncheon from 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM at the Puritan Backroom in the Pappas Room; 245 Hooksett Road, Manchester, NH. Relatives and friends are respectfully invited.

John was an avid lover of blues and rock n’ roll, and as such in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the New Hampshire Music Educator’s Association’s (NHMEA) Modern Band Program by check or Venmo listed below.

Please mail checks to:

NHMEA

PO Box 717

Stratham, NH 03885

Memo: John Benson donation

Venmo: @AndersJBenson