Founder of Ruidoso River Association dies

Jan. 28--Ben Young Mason, 91, died Friday in his home in Ruidoso with his family at his side.

Mason was well known in the Ruidoso area as one of the founders of the Ruidoso River Association and as an advocate for tighter municipal control of the nightly rental of private homes in Ruidoso.

He suffered from Parkinson's Disease and recently experienced a stroke. Although the prognosis for recovery initially was good, he didn't respond as hoped and told his family that he wanted to return to his home in Ruidoso.

"My mother, my sister and I were all here with him, the family he loved, nurtured and set such an extraordinary example for all his life," his son, Ben Y. Mason, said. "But Pop's gentle character, his wry sense of humour, his forthright honesty and graciousness touched people far and wide. He was the embodiment of true Christian virtues, decency, generosity, humility and just plain goodness. We will all miss him."

Ruidoso Mayor Ray Alborn said, "I had high regard for Ben. His knowledge of water went beyond a lot of people. His work with the river association pretty well was accepted by everyone. We named a river crossing for him and I think that tickled him a great deal. His whole family was there. I'm so glad we did that.

"I never found him to be anything less than very stable, never over the top. He would listen and give you his opinion. You could ask questions and he would share his expertise. I found that very helpful."

Mason was born on Sept. 1, 1922, the son of Dr. and Mrs. C. H. Mason of El Paso, Texas. He attended Coldwell Elementary School and Austin High School in El Paso, graduating in 1940 as valedictorian of his class. He entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study chemical engineering, but his education was interrupted by his enlistment in the U.S. Army Air Corps shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941. He served in the Pacific fighting theater as a B-29 navigator.</p>

When he returned to the United States, he married Betty Carolyn Graham, went back to MIT and completed his degree. Mason went on to earn a master's degree from the University of Texas.

"Betty, an experienced stenographer, worked as a typist for a burial insurance firm in Austin to supplement the GI Bill stipend that supported college education for war veterans," Mason wrote five years before his death. "Then, as always, Betty has continued to be (my) support and spiritual anchor."

The couple returned to El Paso and Mason opened Farm Service Laboratory, an agricultural testing facility. The results of his soil and water tests in the agricultural areas of Texas, New Mexico and Chihuahua, became the foundation for a large database of soil and water qualities throughout the Southwest, Mason wrote.

After several years being involved in the agricultural chemicals and equipment business, Mason sold his interests and earned his doctorate degree at New Mexico State University in 1975. From that time until his retirement, he worked as a consultant in agricultural practices and water issues under the firm name of Water Conservation Studies. He was an appointed consultant to the federal Environmental Protection Agency and did pro bono engineering work, serving on the technical advisory committee for the El Paso Water Plan and the technical committee that established a sanitation order for colonias in El Paso County. He provided engineering support for the establishment of El Paso'sWilderness Park.

After he retired at 73, Mason and his wife moved to Ruidoso, where they built a new home on the site of a cabin erected by Betty's father, C. E. Graham, in 1936. The forest home on the Rio Ruidoso became a hub for extended family during the summer and on holidays, Mason wrote.

During the drought of 1996, he became a founding member and technical director of the Ruidoso River Association Inc., a charitable corporation formed to "preserve and protect a healthy and free-flowing Rio Ruidoso."

Over the years, the association was awarded and used several million dollars in environmental grants, joined with the U.S. Geological Survey to meter the river, worked with the Mescalero Apache on a joint drainage plan for Ski Apache and on thinning watershed forest land.

Mason obtained approval from the village administration to review the chemistry and to simplify the configuration of an existing pump-back arrangement at Grindstone Dam that significantly reduced operational and maintenance costs of the reservoir. The association carried out an annual river clean-up and introduced environmental biology classes into the Ruidoso school curriculum, Mason wrote.

Mason said he loved Ruidoso canyons and mountains, and he hiked every trail with his son, son-in-law, daughter and grandsons.

He served on the vestry of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Mount, taught an adult literacy class for the New Mexico Literacy Council and was a long-time volunteer for the Lincoln County Food Bank. He was a member and officer in the El Paso and Ruidoso Rotary clubs.

On his 90th birthday last year, the mayor and the village honored Mason's long service to the community by naming the lower North Loop bridge Mason Crossing.

He is survived by his wife, Betty Graham Mason; a sister, Mary Yelderman of El Paso; his daughter, Deborah Howe of Houston; his son, Ben Y. Mason Jr. of Marina Del Ray, Calif.; grandsons Ben Howe of Dallas and Bryan Howe of Houston; granddaughters Julia Mason of Houston and Hayley Dickson of Los Angeles; and a great-grandson, Mason Howe of Dallas.

Funeral services are set for 3 p.m. Friday at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Mount in Ruidoso. The family asked that in lieu of flowers, those wishing to make a donation, consider the new church bell tower being dedicated to Mason's memory. The address is Episcopal Church of the Holy Mount, BYM Memorial Bell Tower, 121 Mescalero Trail, Ruidoso, NM 88345.

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