J.R. Benner of Weston, bought his 1954 Chevrolet Carryall in 1959 to use for fishing and hunting. In 45 years it has carried more memories than fishing gear because it has touched almost every member of his family.

 “I could slide my oars up under the seats and put an outboard motor in back,” he said. Benner was a rural mail carrier, and about 1 p.m. each afternoon, after he had finished delivering his 84-mile route in a Ford sedan, he and a friend would take the Chevy and head for the Missour River, where they moored a fishing boat. The green Chevy hauled them back and forth like a faithful pack horse.

 In 1962, Benner’s wife Alice started college at St. Mary’s in Leavenworth. “I always wanted to go to college,” she said, “and I sent myself.” She sold Avon products to earn her tuition. She drove the Chevy to class every day. One particularly snowy day she and the Carryall braved the slick roads to attend art class. The teacher commented that if Alice and her “Green Bean” could make it to class, there was no excuse for anyone else not to be there.

 After college, Alice drove Green Bean to her teaching job at Lakeview School in Farley. Teaching, she said, was “a dream come true.”

 Larry Benner, their son, also remembers the Chevy. He had a 1956 Ford Fairlane as a teenager, but if his folks grounded him from his car the Chevy Carryall was his only transportation. It was definitely not something a teenager wanted to be seen in, he said.

 Three years ago, J.R. gave the Chevy to his son. Larry, who lives in Independence and now has fond feelings for the old truck. To keep up with modern traffic, he replaced the original engine, transmission and rear end with modern components. The engine is a 305-cubic-inch Chevy V-8, the transmission is from a 1978 Malibu and the rear end is from a 1979 Pontiac Firebird.

 Larry sprayed a coat of satin black paint over the fading green, but did not do anything else. There are a few tiny rust holes, and there’s still a dent in the back fender where his dad slid into a tree one day while driving up a muddy river bank. A 1967 Weston city sticker is still on the window.

 Change is not something the Benners take lightly. J.R. and Alice Benner have been married for 67 years, and they live in the house they bought in 1941. With that kind of loyalty, it’s no wonder the Chevy is still in the family, and that their son has no plans to ever get rid of it.