Benita “Slo Freight Ben” Sankey, 96, Former hobo queen
Hoodude
Former hobo queen `Slo Freight Ben' dies
By ANGIE JOHANNSEN
For The Globe Gazette
http://www.globegazette.com/articles/2007/10/02/latest_news/doc47028ebc2aec6986685048.txt
BRITT — Less than a year after the death of hobo patriarch Steamtrain
Maury Graham, the hobo community has learned of another loss.
Former hobo queen Benita “Slo Freight Ben” Sankey died Friday at the
age of 96 of congestive heart failure at her daughter’s home in Raymond.
Her daughter, Carol Van Brocklin, said her mother’s last days were
peaceful, much like the way she lived her life.
Named Grand Duchess of the Hobos in 1981, Slo Freight was elected
National Hobo Queen in Britt in 1984, 1989 and 1999.
She was proclaimed Iowa Hobo Queen for Life and in 2007 was proclaimed
Keeper of the Unknown Hobo Grave.
Slo Freight made her way to the National Hobo Convention nearly every
year. With her daughter Carol at her side, carefully pushing her
wheelchair through the Hobo Day crowds, Slo Freight was treated like
royalty.
As a three-time hobo queen and crowd favorite, she was even bestowed
the title of “Queen Mum” of the hobos in a touching ceremony at the
Hobo Jungle in 2006.
Hobo Betty “Connecticut Shorty” Moylan said she and the rest of the
hobo family will miss Slo Freight.
“Slo Freight was probably the most delightful woman I have ever met,”
Shorty said. “She was simply a wonderful woman — she lived life to the
fullest right up to the end.”
One of the tales told about Slo Freight Ben is when she tried to ride
her bike to Britt from her home in Independence while she was in her
80s. Determined to make her way to the hobo convention when she
couldn’t find a ride, the eager hobo hopped on the seat of her
two-wheeled ride and headed down the road.
“She actually got quite far,” Shorty recalled. “Her family caught up
to her and got her the rest of the way to Britt.”
Today, that bike is just one of the pieces of hobo memorabilia
residing in the National Hobo Museum in Britt.
Showing how much zest she had for life, Slo Freight didn’t let her
illness keep her down. After leaving Britt at the end of the 2007 Hobo
Convention in August, she was thrilled to ride a merry-go-round in
another small town, friends said. And just weeks before her death, she
went on a horse and buggy ride, during which the driver let her take
the reins for a while.
“She said she loved the feel of the leather in her hands,” said
Shorty. “That’s someone who lives life to the fullest until the end.”
Funeral services were held for Sankey on Tuesday at First United
Methodist Church in Jesup.
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