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Oldest fair volunteer has seen it all
May 03, 2009 (The Huntsville Item - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
As 81-year-old Lucille Benthall of Huntsville walks around the rodeo arena at the Walker County Fair and Rodeo, she can't help but recall dozens of stories from her 20 years serving as a volunteer at the fairgrounds.
She remembers an injured cowboy lying in the dirt in the arena as concerned officials waited for an ambulance.
"I was out at the gate when it happened, and the Lord just told me I should pray for that boy," she said.
Minutes later, as everyone feared the worst, the cowboy got off his gurney and walked away.
The story is but a fragment of Benthall's storied life. As the fair's oldest volunteer, she's seen it all, and then some.
Born and raised in Walker County, her family has strong and very old ties to the most profound moments in Texas history.
"I was born on a Texas land grant," she said. "My great great grandfather, Hezekiah Farris, came to Texas with Sam Houston, and he fought at the Battle of San Jacinto, and he was one of the three men who captured Santa Anna the day after the battle."
As a teenager, Benthall took her place in history at the original Walker County Fair.
"In 1945, when W.S. Gibbs was mayor of Huntsville, he asked me if I would lead the parade for the Walker County Fair," she said. "Back then it was in October, out at the old fairgrounds on Highway 75, so I carried the flag in that parade. Then, in '46, Maurice Turner, who was head of the Chamber of Commerce, asked me if I would lead the parade again, and I found 19 more riders to ride with me."
Also in 1946, Benthall rode in a historic pageant celebrating the 100th anniversary of Texas' annexation into the United States. Even today, she recalls with pride the massive scale of the event, and more importantly, the community unity.
"These were the leading people of Huntsville and Walker County that were involved in this," she says as she scans a photocopy of a program from the pageant. "We all just pulled together like a big old family. It was just a whole community welding itself together to put on a performance, and I really wish we could do something like that again."
After marriage, Benthall spent time in the banking business, working in both Huntsville and Houston, while raising two sons. In 1989, at age 61, she returned to the Walker County Fair, this time at its new location on state Highway 30 West.
Today, most fair volunteers are involved because of some link to local youth. As children get involved, so do their parents and grandparents. But for Benthall, whose children were already grown when she began volunteering, the decision was simply based on answering a call for help.
"My boys had horses, and we were always buying feed for them," she said. "I was at the feed store one day and someone there asked me if I could come help at the fairgrounds. So I said 'heck yeah!'"
Today, Benthall can be seen at the entrance to the rodeo arena taking tickets, greeting every guest with a smile, but she also works behind the scenes as one of the fair association's primary scholarship fundraisers and as a member of the rodeo committee, a job she's held now for 13 years.
After 20 years with the fair association, Benthall is still in love with her job, and shows no signs of slowing down. When asked how long she plans to keep volunteering, she simply grins and shrugs.
"I don't know," she said. "As long as you feel good and you enjoy the people, why not keep going? I think I'll hang in there for a while longer."
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