HUDSON – If you wanted to understand Arthur J. Provencher when he was living his dream as the owner of Benson’s Wild Animal Park, all you needed to do was check his license plate: MYZOO.

“One of his great enjoyments was riding the lead elephant in the parade at Benson’s every day, whenever he could make it,” said Bob Goldsack of Nashua, who has written two histories of Benson’s Park. “He loved it.”

Provencher, 83, a Nashua native who lived most recently in Henniker, died last week after a long illness.

Provencher, a 1949 graduate of Nashua High School, worked for Beebe Rubber and started several companies, most notably Star Rental trucking in Merrimack. But he was best know as the last owner of Benson’s Park, when it was Hudson’s answer to Boston zoos and Canobie Lake.

A fan of the circus and zoos who had established his own free mini-zoo in Merrimack, built around an injured elephant obtained from a passing circus and a giraffe, Provencher spent several years negotiating to buy Benson’s from the group of Boston businessemen who had owned it for two decades.

The park, which opened to the public in 1926, was fading when Provencher became its third owner in 1979, and he had his work cut out for him because the facility had fallen on hard times.

“He put a lot of money into it; simple things – plantings of flowers and keeping kept the park immaculate – and he started to add rides. … Unfortunately, he took it over at a time when interest rates were very, very high and the only loans you could get were short-term loans; he often said that every time he turned around another loan was coming due,” said Goldsack.

Among other things, Provencher hired a full-time zoologist to take care of the animals and make the facility more educational, and allegedly featured more animals than the Stone and Franklin Park zoos, combined.

“It really was the highlight of his life,” said Catherine Provencher, a daughter-in-law. “It’s just amazing the strangers, when they found out he had owned Bensons, all the stories they would share.”

Goldsack regularly took his own children and their friends to Benson’s, and met Provencher there, because the owner was often around.

“He worked very hard to keep it going,” said Goldsack. “He knew he had to get a half-million attendance each year to break to break even but he was never able to hit that mark.”

Despite a short-lived attempt to boost attendance by turning it into New England Playword Amusement Park and Zoo, Provencher decalred bankruptcy and the park closed in 1987, and most of its contents, including 550 animals, most notably Clossus the gorilla, were sold at auction.

“I never heard him cry about it, he always said that it was a wonderful experience,” said Goldsack. “One time he said to me, if you know anybody who’s got a couple million dollars, I’d like to try it again!”

Benson’s is now owned by the town of Hudson, and has been refurbished as a public park, with a few buildings from its zoo heyday. At a 2010 tour, Provencher expressed pleasure at what had happened.

“It’s looking very good,” he told The Telegraph. “I’m pleasantly surprised. It was all overgrown a year ago. The volunteers have done a great job. You’re now able to visualize what was here before and the beauty of the grounds.”

Funeral arrangements are being made through Anctil-Rochette and Sons Funeral Home in Nashua.

To read more stories about Benson’s and see many photos of its past, check The Telegraph’s special site about Benson’s Wild Animal Park.

David Brooks can be reached at 594-6531 or dbrooks@nashua
telegraph.com. Also, follow Brooks on Twitter (@GraniteGeek).