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HAMLET, Neb. — Benjamin Clark McMinn passed away on December 30, 2025.

He was born to Clark and Phyllis (Berns) McMinn at St. Katherine’s Hospital in McCook, Nebraska.

At that time the family lived (older brother Dan was an infant) in the little stone schoolhouse on the Stinking Water Creek north of Hamlet, Nebraska. The family soon after moved to Culbertson where Clark found employment as a truck driver. Then to Fort Morgan, Colorado, and eventually to Sterling, Colorado, where Clark was a long time electrician.

As a child Ben had curly hair and was dubbed ‘Curly’ by his father. Ben was a member of the first graduating class from Rocky Mountain High School in Fort Collins. He took after his dad in the fact that he joined the military after high school and went in the direction of the electrical field (specifically in wiring of communications) aboard the Destroyer Tender he served on in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific.

While in the Navy, Ben met a woman named Shan and after his stint in the service, they moved to Kearney, Nebraska. This union produced their daughter Korie.

Ben worked at various jobs related to his experience including Catholic Hospital Initiative and the Youth Rehab Treatment Center in Kearney. Years after he had separated from Shan, he met and married Cindy and worked at Eaton’s of Kearney. They had a daughter, Melissa.

Later Ben worked in the production of styrofoam animals after a few years of installing glass in commercial buildings preceded by laying brick. The job he enjoyed most was burying communication cable all over destinations in Colorado with his good friend Ray Schultz.

In his last years, Ben lived in Pueblo, Colorado, near his sister Rebecca, where he had established a spot in the community with a close group of friends, many of whom were also veterans.

He was preceded in death by his father Clark and his brother Rodney.

He is survived by daughters Korie and Melissa, mother Phyllis Osthoff, stepmother Donna McMinn, brothers Dan, Kent and Carl, sisters Rebecca, Kathy, Kris and Kalyn, and many nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held on May 2, 2026, at 11 a.m. at Meadowlawn Cemetery in Hamlet, Nebraska. A meal at Mihm Hall in Palisade will follow.