Karl Pontus Bengt Ohman

The story goes that at age 6, Bengt both took apart and re-assembled his mother’s toaster. To all who knew him, this would come as no surprise. His life followed a path of becoming an aeronautical engineer as well as a fixer-upper of everything from lamps, radios, cars and phones for friends in the North Country (and later in their retirement community in Vermont). Bengt was also devoted to restoring a 1931 Chevrolet coupe and several Adirondack guide boats both before and during retirement.

Bengt Ohman was born on Jan. 5, 1929, in Sweden. He grew up on an island farm called “Ado” where he took a boat or skied across a lake to school. When he was 11, his family moved to a suburb outside of Stockholm. There he completed his general schooling and continued on to graduate from the Stockholm’s Tekniska Institute with a diploma in aeronautical engineering.

Bengt worked at DeHavilland in England as well as at SAS, Swedish Air Service/Swedish Airworks, and Flyggmotor. He served for the Swedish Air Force in 1951 and 1952.

In 1962, Bengt was invited to work for an American company Transaero and moved in November of that year to the United States. Just a few weeks later, Bengt met Polly during a Thanksgiving holiday at her brother’s Adirondack camp on the Upper Saranac Lake. It was love at first sight and in 1964, Bengt and Polly were married during another Thanksgiving holiday in the Adirondack hamlet of Lake Clear at a church not far from where they first met.

After the birth of their two children — Katrina “Kinna” and Peter — Bengt started his own business in 1968. He worked out of his home in northern New York and in various Canadian and Alaskan locales. In the early 1970s, he incorporated his company as Bentek, Inc.

Bengt was a Rotarian and in Malone, New York, he initiated the local Adopt-A-Highway program and began a monthly collection of paper and cardboard involving the community. He served as Rotary president and had a special interest in Rotary’s World Community Service program. He was twice awarded the Paul Harris Fellow for “service above self.”

Bengt was a wonderful father and husband. He took part in his children’s passions — fixing horse trailers and minibikes, pitching balls and getting up early for hockey games, and being constantly on call for help with stranded vehicles as his children traveled throughout the US and Canada. He and Polly enjoyed photography and traveled to places as remote as Patagonia and the Galapagos Islands. They both served in an Ecuadorian mission (where Bengt, not surprisingly, helped repair washing machines and vehicles).

Bengt is predeceased by his parents, Karl Gosta (1902-1967) and Maja-Lisa (1906-1990) Ohman.

Surviving are his wife, Polly; their children, Katrina “Kinna” (Gene) Ohman-Leone of Saranac Lake and Peter (Frances) Ohman of Bozeman, Montana, with their grandchildren Audrey and Gavin; Bengt’s brother, Jan (Birgit) Ohman of Bromma, Sweden, and his nephews, Gustav Ohman and Henrik Ohman and their families all in Sweden.

In lieu of flowers, a charity of one’s choice. A private celebration will be held next summer in the Adirondacks.