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Major Ben Meyer, 99, was promoted to Glory March 23 from San Francisco.
Meyer was born May 15, 1913, in Chicago. He and a friend put together a song and dance act and performed around the Chicago area. Following his conversion, he gave up performing to attend Moody Bible Institute.
During the Depression he enlisted in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and served with the Forest Service near Medford, Ore. A co-worker invited him to the Medford Corps, where he became a soldier and then the young people’s sergeant-major. He met Dianna Hammond at the corps, and they wed in 1937.
The couple served as envoys for five years, ministering in Baker and Astoria, Ore. In January 1954, they entered the School for Officer Training in San Francisco as members of the Shepherds Session and were commissioned that June. Their first appointment was to the Caldwell (Idaho) Corps, followed by assignments at Wenatchee, Wash., and Pomona, Calif. Meyer also served in the finance department at territorial headquarters and was administrator of the Oakland and Sacramento adult rehabilitation centers (ARC). His last appointment was as general secretary in the ARC Command.
The Meyers retired to San Francisco, where Ben Meyer worked as an associate in an accounting firm for 15 years. He was a lifelong Kiwanis member, serving three terms as president and receiving an award for more than 50 years of attendance.
Meyer is survived by his wife, Dianna, and his daughter, Major Benia Meyer. Lt. Sean O’Brien conducted a chapel service at Cypress Lawn Cemetery in Colma, Calif., on April 3, and Commissioner Kenneth Hood brought the message.
