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THE UTAH NEWSPAPER HALL OF FAME of the Utah Pioneer Trails and Landmarks Association. During his career as general manager of The Deseret News the paper installed its modern Hoe press, capable of printing 120,000 twenty-page papers per hour. When inaugurated in September, 1936, it was one of the printing marvels of the Intermountain country. There were none finer. Which fit the character of S. 0. Bennion, for to him there was nothing too good for the paper he managed, circulating, as it did, across a huge segment of the Western country. That he guided a capable staff with considerable journalistic skill is confirmed by newspaper historian J. Cecil Alter, who in 1938 wrote, "Always obliged to reflect, in its news and editorial columns, the exemplary attributes of the Church that owns it, yet almost equally obliged to present all the news satisfactory to Mormons and non-Mormons alike, The Deseret News stands unique among the newspapers of the world today. It is not only the oldest, but the most influential and esteemed 6-day newspaper in the country." The noted publisher was released from his Deseret News duties in August, 1941, to allow him to more fully devote his attention to his calling as a General Authority of the Church, where he was to aid in its greatly expanding missionary program. He was married to Charlotte Towler on August 23, 1898 and they were the parents of two children. She was at his side with loyal support during his long missionary career and later Church assignment with its even greater responsibilities. He traveled widely throughout the country in carrying them out. Most felt his death came as S. O. Bennion would have liked it to have happened -- when he was at the height of his service and activity. He had attended a quarterly conference in Pasadena, California, on Saturday and Sunday, and after his return home passed away on Wednesday, May 8, 1945, victim of a heart attack. At the time of his death, The Deseret News editorially said of him: "He maintained the keenest possible interest in things as they happened around him and injected, definitely, his personality into those events which came under his influence. 435 |
