Ben Grinhaug, 70, of Rochester, passed away of cancer on Sunday, May 15, 2016 at Gunderson Hospital in La Crosse Wisconsin.

Ben was born on January 22, 1946 to Carl and Alvina Grinhaug at home in Cresco Iowa. He attended and graduated from Cresco High School in 1965. He moved to Waukegan, Illinois and worked at the Natural Gas Company. He also worked at Maid Rite Cafe with his sister Inger.

He married Gwendolyn Blodgett in 1967. They moved to Rochester in 1973. They later divorced.

Ben worked at Crenlo manufacturing in Rochester and was elected President of the UAW Union by the workers. He went on to drive Semi for Starbulk and then drove bus for 28 years for the Rochester City Lines. Following retirement from City Lines he worked for Natures Best Dry Cleaning, then Proksch Transit until the day he was hospitalized.

He was a long time friend to Maureen Maass and then had his last daughter with Dawn Faber. Ben read on a daily basis and was blessed with a lifelong love of learning which he shared with everyone he met. He had a fun sense of humor and truly loved meeting people and telling jokes. Some of his favorite things were family, music, history, cars and trucks (real and toy.) He had a true gift for whistling, singing and storytelling.

Survivors include his children; Amanda Hofschulte, Brenda (Kevin) Newell, Catherine (Chris) Daniels and Annie Grinhaug; siblings, Skip Grinhaug, Marie (LaVern) Hruska, Susan Ramanauskas and Inger Scanlon, Mark (Kathy) Grinhaug ; 11 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, Carl and Alvina Grinhaug; son, John and grandson Cody Hofschulte, niece Monica Toddie, brother-in-laws Lee Ramanauskas and Jim Scanlon.

A heartfelt thank you for the staff at Gunderson Hospital in La Crosse Wisconsin for the wonderful care they gave Ben and the support given to his family.

A Memorial Service will be at 2:00PM, Friday, May 20, 2016 in the River Park Chapel of Macken Funeral Home with Pastor Paulette Frye officiating. Visitation will be from 4:00PM – 8:00PM, Thursday, May 19, 2016 in the River Park Chapel and one 1/2 hour prior to the service on Friday. Burial will be at a later date.

Online condolences are welcome at www.mackenfuneralhome.com.