Remembering Ben Garrison Baldwin 1924-2008

Funeral services for Ben Garrison Baldwin were held on August 14, 2008. Family and friends gathered to celebrate his life and share memories.

Baldwin served for three years in the US Navy during WWII. He was a Gunners Mate 2 on a LCI boat in the Pacific Theater. He married Audrey Blackburn in November of 1946.

Ben and Audrey lived in many towns in South Louisiana while working for Brown & Root in the pipeline industry. He was a pioneer in the development of laying the first underwater pipelines from a barge in the Gulf of Mexico.

They settled in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, where he started his own business in excavation contracting, Ben Baldwin Contractors, Inc., and later was the owner of Custom Metal Buildings where he constructed warehouses and offices.

After retiring, they moved to Cushing where Baldwin served as a Cushing city commissioner for seven years and then, mayor of Cushing for seven years.

He was active in the Masonic Lodge, a past patron of the William D. White Chapter #141 Order of the Easter Star in Gretna, Louisiana, as well as Cushing Chapter #368, and a member of the Landmark Baptist Church in Cushing.

His daughter, Sandra Duncan of Cary North Carolina, said that every day of Dad's life was a testament of his philosophy that "life was good" in the good times and bad times. He loved to be around people and people loved to be with him.