Jim was born in Hartlepool, Durham, a seaside area of northern England in June of 1934. He has one older sibling, Betty Macmillan, who is also a Member of NSUC. Their father, James served in the army in the First World War. Their mother, Florence (who was known as “Nellie”) had experienced severe bombing of their small community by the German navy in WW1.
When WW2 came to Britain, their mother Nellie evacuated them to the countryside to live with one of their grannies (who ran a pub), and a nanny. (Jim remembers his mother instructing Betty to “look after your little brother” -- and maintains she still does to some degree!)
James (Jim & Betty’s father) did electrical work. The family also ran an arcade business. Both children were involved in the business and were allowed to help by counting the large English pennies from the various rides and shows, and scooping ice cream.
During her growing-up years, Nellie’s family had lived in a caravan and had moved around a great deal. As a result, she had been illiterate but was taught to read by her husband. She then became a voracious reader and would give the children 10 books at a time at Christmas to further their interests.
While the war was still waging, they were returned to Hartlepool as they needed to carry on with their schooling. Their parents had just bought a new home. Ten days later, their previous home was totally destroyed by a bomb! Jim says he’s been called “Lucky Jim”. He says this was one of several circumstances when the term seemed valid.
Both children had written the traditional 11+ exams and done well, so at this point, Jim and Betty were sent to separate “better” schools: one for boys and one for girls. Jim describes his experiences there as absolutely brutal! He will never forget the abuse.
The children’s father had a sister who had been widowed prematurely. She really craved travel but wanted company so asked Betty, age 13, to be her companion. Their tour was a long one via Cape Horn but finally they ended up in British Columbia in Langley, where lived some people known to the family.
This was 1947 and times were tough in Britain, so Betty didn’t want to return to England . The family finally decided to sell up and move to Langley B.C. The parents set up a candy manufacturing business here and ordered candy-making equipment from England. This business prospered and the family eventually moved to New Westminster. Jim was 13 and Betty 4 years older, and they attended the local high school. Jim thought he was “in heaven” after his previous school experience!
Jim started in Grade 8 but soon advanced to Grade 10 by Christmas and finished Grade 12 at age 16. From here, he went to UBC where he’d been encouraged by a mentor to take architecture since he had exhibited artistic potential. As he was younger than the usual university entrance students, it wasn’t ideal for him socially. However, he remained in the architecture academic field for 3 years. He then switched to Commerce. After two years in that field, a professor who had done an assessment on him told him “Don’t go into sales”.
During his summer breaks, Jim had found work as a deck hand for two years and then worked on the huge Kemano project at Kitimat, living in a camp of 5000. He says he learned more from those experiences than from his university years.
Once he gave up on university, he went to the unemployment agency seeking a new job. Luckily for Jim, he was hired by a well-established British firm, Grosvenor-Laing Developers, where he was given training to become a project manager. From here, his work life took off and he was involved in many large projects, first to Powell River for an office building for the company and later construction projects were with Woodwards and then the Vancouver airport.
While at the airport site, the carpenters went on strike and he was able to take time off from his management responsibilities to have some essential surgery that required hospitalization at the Royal Columbian Hospital. Lucky Jim struck it lucky again! He met and fell in love with a nurse in training named Marie. They were engaged within 4 months and married in a year.
Jim’s working life seemed to just flow from one major company to another. He didn’t apply but was head hunted to work in roles such Assistant Personnel Manager for a chainsaw factory and later as Advertising Manager and VP at KVOS (which was for 14 years) where he was in charge of advertising and sales with the Vancouver Board of Trade.
Jim and Marie’s first home was in Norgate, where they raised three children: a girl and two boys. They have 4 grandchildren. They moved to Calder Ave after 6 years at Norgate. All of their children live in the North Vancouver area.
Initially, Marie attended the Anglican Church in their area and had been active there. Jim wasn’t so keen as this was a very “high” Anglican service.
At this time, Marie was doing private nursing care and had time to do a lot of knitting for charitable projects. She obtained the wool for free from the Vancouver Unitarian Church — and they donated the knit items to the Unitarian Service Committee.
In 1967, Marie heard of a meeting to be held at the West Vancouver Rec Centre. They were planning a new Unitarian fellowship on the North Shore. Jim & Marie attended meetings held at North Shore Neighbourhood House, joining NSUC when the Mathers property was purchased.
Jim served as the NSUC Board president in 1987. He and Marie were instrumental in organizing the Save the Lot Committee. Marie has always been heavily involved in church matters and in fund raising projects.
Outside the church, the Bensleys operated a business that organized conventions and special events all over North America. (Jim’s early days of arcade experiences obviously paid off!)
In visiting Jim and Marie in their new abode, Ruth Sherwood (the author of this Mini Bio) learned that Jim has a genuine talent for art. His subjects are various but ships figure prominently.
Jim and Marie are now retired in the Amica Care Home in Edgemont area. They come to church when someone (usually Malcolm Mallory) can drive them. Both Jim and Marie have contributed significantly to our UU community.