Edna Mae Baldwin Benna

Philanthropist embraced family, Nevada

Edna Baldwin Benna won many prestigious awards in recognition of her gifts of time and money to the art and education communities of Reno. Despite her humble beginnings, she was called, in a Reno Gazette Journal article, “The Grande Dame of Reno.”

Edna was born in Pasadena, Calif., and grew up during the Depression and WWII in Los Angeles, Calif. Her parents were Kenneth and Irene Cook Baldwin. She was raised mainly by her grandmother, Ruby Christopherson Cook, because her mother, Irene, was a full-time hairdresser for Hollywood movie stars. Irene traveled to many Western movie sets in the state to serve the stars.

Edna graduated from Belmont High School in 1947. There she had a lot of friends who were from other ethnicities. She enjoyed people from different backgrounds and different cultures. After graduation, because of her great beauty, Edna became a model. Edna could not attend college because she moved to Reno in 1948. Although she never attended college, she was extremely interested in learning. She was always an avid reader, which made her very knowledgeable about many different topics.

She started coming to Nevada as a young child and would take a train from Caliente to her Uncle Frank’s ranch in Baker, Nev. Loving Nevada and nature, she would explore the desert looking for arrowheads and other interesting objects. She had a great imagination and would use colored bottles as her toys. She pretended they were horses and cows, and she would make dolls out of hollyhocks.

Edna came to Reno in 1948 to care for the children of her mother’s cousin, Muriel, because Muriel had to have surgery. Muriel’s husband, Ted, was an alumnus of the Phi Sigma Kappa Fraternity at the University of Nevada. Ted told Edna that he wanted to introduce her to a young man who was living in the fraternity house. His name was Bruno Benna, a tall handsome man of Italian descent. He was from New Jersey and had been recruited to play basketball by Coach Jake Lawlor.

The most important of Edna and Bruno’s first dates was at the University of Nevada Homecoming Dance. They remained Wolf Pack fans for their entire marriage, and even after Bruno’s death, Edna attended almost all the basketball games, up to a week or two before her passing. Edna and her husband loved to dance, and they continued to attend the UNR Homecoming Dance even into their 80s to celebrate UNR and their first special date!

Bruno and Edna were married July 2, 1950, at St. Thomas Aquinas Cathedral. Bruno was finishing college, and he worked nights at the Little Waldorf Saloon. In the summers he worked as a laborer in construction. Edna had a job as a typist at Nevada Bell, the local telephone company. In 2010, they were blessed to celebrate their 60th anniversary with a beautiful party.

Edna and Bruno started a family in 1952 when their son, Stephen, was born. They rented a little one-bedroom barn-house on Washington Street that was owned by Dr. James Church, a professor at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). Dr. Church was the inventor of snow-water measurements, and he and a friend started a collection of local art, which eventually turned out to be the seed collection of the future Nevada Museum of Art. Steve said the one bedroom was upstairs where the hay had once been stored. Steve slept in a dresser drawer, because they didn’t have room for a nursery. In 1954 their daughter, Cathleen, was born.

After graduating from UNR in 1952, Bruno started working at Billinghurst Middle School as a teacher. In 1958 Bruno and Ingvart Christensen, whom Bruno knew from playing basketball, purchased concrete equipment from Isabel Construction Company and started CB Concrete Company. This was the beginning of Edna and Bruno’s success.

Bruno was a brilliant businessman, and Edna was the support behind him. She would read to him out of newspapers and magazines because she knew he needed to be abreast of what was going on in the city, state, country and world. She was a gourmet cook and had an excellent sense of style. She entertained people who were important to Bruno’s success.

Because of his success with CB Concrete Co., Bruno was able to subsequently start a few more related businesses, including Capital City Concrete in Carson, ABC Block, and Rilite Inc., a lightweight aggregate supplier.

Bruno and Edna built a three-bedroom house on University Terrace in 1957. They lived there until 1964, when their third child, Alexander, was born. In 1964 they built their second house on Dieringer Drive, where their last child, Christopher, was born in 1966. Edna read nursery rhymes and classic children’s stories to her children. Their home on Dieringer Drive was their dream home-ranch, where they had dogs, cats, sheep, cows and horses. Edna enjoyed cooking with the vegetables from the Italian garden they planted.

Bruno and Edna were always philanthropic. They contributed to the community with both their treasure and their time. In 1997 Bruno and Edna started the Edna B. and Bruno Benna Foundation. Edna and Bruno also served on many boards.

Edna served on the Nevada Museum of Art Board of Directors, first joining in 1986, when it was still the Sierra Nevada Museum of Art. She served many terms as a trustee for the University of Nevada Foundation. She served on the Church Fine Arts capital campaign, special events and the professors’ grant committees. She also served as consumer advocate for the Title Insurance Group of Nevada. She belonged to the Washoe Medical League and volunteered at St. Mary’s Hospital. She was chair and a board member of the Reno Junior Assembly. She was a member of the Wolf Club, St. Mary’s Guild, the Nevada Opera Guild, the Philharmonic Guild and the Republican Women of Reno.

Bruno and Edna donated money to many organizations, including the Nevada Museum of Art, the University of Nevada, Bishop Manogue High School, St. Mary’s Hospital, Catholic Charities, and St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church.

Edna fostered a vigorous social life for Bruno and herself. Per her obituary, “When she and her husband would walk into a room, all heads would turn. A more elegant couple was seldom seen.” She attended many fundraisers, hosted fancy parties at her home and around Reno and raised money for her various favorite charities.

Edna and Bruno received many recognitions during their lifetimes. She was a recipient of the University of Nevada Service Award. Together with Bruno, she was named “Distinguished Nevadan” by the University of Nevada; honored with the first Annual Award for Service by the Little Flower parish and school; received the SIR award from the Associated General Contractors; the Governor’s Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts from Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn, and the first Annual Edda award from the Theater Coalition for dedication to theater in Navada. She was inducted into the Manogue Hall of Fame in January 2004. She and Bruno were honored by the Nevada Opera at their gala in April 2005 and named Honorary Chairmen of the “Rhythm & Rawhide,” a collaboration of the Reno Philharmonic and the Reno Rodeo in May 2005.

Bruno and Edna traveled extensively, visiting over 70 countries during their 62-year marriage. The couple never traveled with organized tours; instead, they chose time to live for weeks at a time in countries that caught their fancy. They spent three months living and exploring India. While there Edna purchased yards of exotic silken fabric and brought it home. Then in Reno, she had it made into Indian gowns called Sarees. She had an Indian-style outfit made for Bruno too.

Edna was an excellent cook. She learned how to blend curries and then threw an elegant dinner party with an Indian theme, wearing her Saree. Edna loved to host gourmet dinner parties at her home. Every Christmas, she entertained up to 25 family members and friends for delicious Christmas dinners. Each year, she would change her amazing main table centerpiece and fling open the dining room door right before dinner, to showcase her new candle-lit creation.

Every year Edna attended the Reno Rodeo and the Elko Horse Races. She even helped financially support racehorses in Elko. The only time Edna would wear Levi jeans was while she was camping and attending rodeos or horse races in Elko. She believed in classic dress, and she always dressed elegantly, even at home, lounging and dining with Bruno.

Edna loved Nevada, and she became a true Nevadan. During her ambitious and productive life, Edna touched many lives and filled many needs in our community and will be remembered by those she helped and loved.

Researched and written by Karen Lyons Benna, 2026