For more than three decades Bill Benge was one of southeast Utah’s most familiar and respected faces; when he died suddenly on Friday evening, October 20, of a massive heart attack, he left a hole in the Moab community that will linger longer than any of us can imagine. For his many friends, our hearts are broken.

Bill Benge contained multitudes. He became Grand County’s attorney at age 28, the youngest ever elected to that position in Utah, and served its citizens in that capacity for most of the next 30 years. But he was so much more than that. He was a gourmet cook. His cajun specialities were addictive. He liked to wear the most outrageous assortment of neon ties the civilized world has ever beheld. He came to court wearing purple socks and sandals and the judges let him get away with it because he also possessed a brilliant mind. He read more books in a week than the rest of us might hope to skim in a year. His taste in music was eclectic and his knowledge extensive. If you stacked his old vinyl albums end-to-end, they might just reach the moon.

He possessed a dry wit that bewildered some and earned the adoration of others. He was compassionate and caring, combative and controversial, and struggled with his own demons from time to time, as we all do..

Bill was born in St. Louis on July 18,1946, but spent his early years in Louisiana. His family moved to Alameda, California when he was in elementary school. He graduated from UC Davis and then from Boalt Hall, the school of law at UC Berkeley.

Bill discovered the canyon country and Moab in the late 60s and worked several seasons as a river runner for of Tex McClatchy’s Riverways. For Bill, he knew he was home. He passed his Utah bar exam in 1972 and began a private practice but was called to run and was elected Grand County Attorney in 1974. He left office briefly, but returned in 1992 and stayed until his retirement in 2002. Bill moved to Salt Lake City but was drawn back to Moab last year to re-open his private practice.

Bill dealt with tragedy and adversity for much of his life. He and his wife Anne McLanahan lost their infant daughter Winter in 1984 and their son Brie passed away in 2002. For decades Bill struggled with his health and endured diabetes and several heart attacks; he had triple bypass surgery in 1994 when he was just 47. He was also, toward the end of his life, a proud and active member of Alcoholics Anonymous. It was a cause to which he was uncompromisingly devoted and which ultimately gave him the peace and happiness he had sought for so long. Having found that serenity, he sought to help and support others as well.

Bill Benge touched the lives of thousands in this community, for more than 30 years, in so many different ways. We will always miss the man who wore baggy shorts in the middle of winter and his extravagant ties and his seersucker suits and his shrimp remoulade and seafood gumbo. We will ache with the memory of his incredible mind and his irreverent sense of humor, his quiet compassion and his gentle, sometimes courtly manners.

If you took all of us who loved him and laid us end-to-end, we might just reach the moon as well.

Jim Stiles