Steven was born on the 17th of April 1968 in Northampton, to two loving parents – Bob and Kaye Benson and with two older brothers – Paul and Dave. Then not to long after Steve, came Michael, then Maria and then finally Philip. With this, the family was complete. They then moved from Northampton to the Isle of White and then finally to Devon where he settled. From early on in Steve’s life, he had little interest in education because his ambition was to join the forces. So instead of revising he spent his summer holidays doing more mischief than good. From an early age Steve liked to save money where ever he could, he even had his own unique way of getting fishing bait. One of his favourite stories was when he found a dead squirrel and decided to bury it in his parent’s back garden so that he could retrieve the maggots for fishing. Although this did not go entirely to plan, as his dad found the squirrel. Steve started working at the Bakers Butchers in newton abbot for a while before moving on to the livermead cliff hotel where he did a bit of everything, waiter, busboy etc. When Steve joined the army he gained qualifications through them. The army trained Steve in all the necessary areas. They helped him with his driving test from a normal car to an hgv lorry. Whilst Steve was living at 59 Audley Avenue, Torquay he was still a young solider when Val and John Cooper moved in next door with their two young girls: Carol and Sandra. John was impressed with the enthusiasm and helpfulness of the young solider helping with the renovations of the house and driveway. But by this point Val had sussed Steve was after Carol and soon told John her suspicions that Steve was only after ‘brownie points’ from the dad. Not long after this Steve and Carol began dating and then in January 1990 they were engaged. They were married on the 13th of October 1990 at Furrowcross Church, Torquay. Their married life started in married quarters in the army just outside Bulford before heading off to live in Germany for 8 Years. In this time, they had two children – Dean Steven on the 11th of November 1991 and Natasha Carol on the 28th of December 1993. During Steve’s time in the army, he travelled all over the world; Bosnia, Canada, Africa and then some. But some of his favourite and proudest moments for Steve occurred in Africa. This is where Steve helped to build an orphanage, went on safari and also held an orphaned baby lion. Upon return to the UK, whilst living in Warminster the little family became complete when Steve purchased Jade, the family dog (Who at times was treated more like the family baby). Steve joined the local college and with help and support from Carol completed his English qualification. This was a massive achievement for Steve due to him being dyslexic and leaving school with little to no qualifications. He felt supported and encouraged throughout the whole course to achieve his goal. Finally Steve embarked on another stressful mission – to find a home in Torbay which met the high standards of carol. House after House off pulling up and Carol refusing to get out due to it being ‘Wrong Area’ ‘Too Busy’ ‘Just don’t like the front’ they finally found 174 Blatchcombe Road, Paignton. Jade settled in ever so quickly and soon became Steve’s dog through and though. She was soon jumping to his chest height for a cuddle; this became a daily ritual when Steve got home from work. Then when Steve’s time was up in the Army, he joined the Hoover Candy Group where he eventually rose from service engineer and became Service Team Manager. Whilst in this role, Steve and Carol purchased their first Caravan – the vintage Carlight and began family holidays all over the country with Carols Parents and Sister. Steve loved this caravan other than the fact he couldn’t get in or out the thing without bashing his head (Which eventually became the reason why it was sold on). Dean and Natasha have lots of fun memories of being in the caravan and hearing their mum saying ‘Holiday Smile’ and watching their dad pull a stupid grin. Steve had such a great sense of humour, which he loved to share with everyone around him. I’m sure you all have your own wonderful memories of Steve but we thought some of these with his in-laws would sum Steve’s humour up nicely. After a long journey towing the caravan and finally setting up, Steve decided to set smoke bombs off underneath John and Val’s car and shout fire through their caravan window. Another time involved a fake poo in Johns caravan toilet, now this may not sound overly funny but when you think that the Vintage Caravan was Johns prized possession. Which you definitely could not do a number 2, you can kind of get the picture. But the favourite joke for Steve whilst we were away, it was a lovely day so John and Val went out sightseeing. Whilst they were out, Steve designed a ‘For Sale Sign, Please Call John’ and then his mobile number and it was displayed proudly in the front window of their caravan for the whole day. In 2007, Steve and Carol made the decision to move into 61 Audley Avenue and Carols Parents – John and Val moved into the flat below 61A. And so began a new career change for Steve, he began training to become a bathroom fitter with his father in law John. After 2 years, he was trained and ready to start out a fresh by himself. He began his own business which became his pride and joy ‘Plumbing Solutions’., He loved what he did and if Carol wasn’t there to stop him he would off worked all day and all night 7 Days a week. Steve had a favourite hand signal that he used for certain guests to greet them through the glass of the front door. But we were never sure what guests found funniest; Steve and the hand signal or Carol telling Steve off every time. An affectionate term used for the younger generation was maggots. It didn’t matter who you were; niece, nephew, son, daughter, friend you were a little maggot. The tone of Steve’s voice generally indicated whether you were being a good maggot or a bad maggot at the time. As the younger generation grew older and gained partners Steve became good at telling them how to split the household chores also; ‘in house’ and ‘out house’. The males found this very funny and he received a few friendly insults from the females. Of course Steve was only joking, as he loved this type of banter. Steve loved his parents dearly and was devastated when his mum passed away on 12th March 2011 and then his dad on the 1St of March 2012. Steve said lots of times that: ‘The love and friendship of his parents, were the underlying foundations for the deep and unbreakable bonds forged within his own family’. In August 2012 George built up the courage to ask Steve for his little girls hand in marriage. With that, so began all the wedding plans. There was no way that Natasha was going to have less than perfect and Steve attend all the wedding plans, meetings, dress fittings and then some. Steve picked the perfect wedding dress and with that, all the wedding plans were set for the 1st of February 2014. But at Christmas 2012, the unthinkable happened and the family received the devastating news that Steve had been diagnosed with advanced bowel cancer. He fought throughout his treatment with dignity and he kept his head high. All the family and close friends supported Steve though out his treatment of chemotherapy. In August 2013 Steve found out that his first grandchild was due in the early April of 2014 and he couldn’t have been more excited! Especially when he found out that that grandchild was going to be a grandson! Steve was overjoyed at the news of Zacary Dean Benson. Steve underwent various chemotherapy treatments from January 2013 to October 2013. During these treatments Steve held his faith strong and close to his heart. He held his head high with dignity and courage. In October the family received another terrible blow and that was the hospital felt there was nothing more they can do and wished to withdraw chemotherapy. With this news, the wedding was bought forward to the 7th of December 2013. On the 7th of December 2013, it was the wedding of Steve’s daughter Natasha to George. He couldn’t have been more proud and happy especially when he walked Natasha down the aisle. It was a day of celebration for the whole family. The morning after the wedding, there was a beautiful rainbow out across the bay. This became the first of many rainbows that Steve saw and pointed out to the rest of the family.