By STAN STAPP

NICE GUY is the label you might assign to former City Councilman George Benson if you happened to get acquainted with him while walking down the street - and pleased that he had been designated as the "Father of the Waterfront Streetcar."

For who else do you know that has had a streetcar line named after him?

Usually such an operation is given a title like: "Seattle Municipal Street Railway System." I first met George in the late 1940s when he was learning how to become a pharmacist at the University of Washington, graduating in 1950. George also acquired much of his knowledge of the pharmaceutical business by working in our local Wallingford drugstore, Lincoln Pharmacy (now the site of Garcia's Guadalajara restaurant). As did another friend of George and me, Jay Underhill, who eventually became a doctor. Jay was a classmate of mine (Lincoln, class of 1936) and an Outlook carrier when a kid, whom we paid 25 cents per 100 copies to deliver the paper "to every doorknob" on his route.

Also pursuing a pharmacist's degree was Evelyn Leyman, soon to become George's wife. She and George met while working together at the Lincoln Pharmacy after George had finished his World War II service in the Navy. They were married in 1946, spending their honeymoon in Oregon, where they got to ride a streetcar in Portland.

In 1949 they bought the Mission Pharmacy on Capitol Hill, which they owned and operated for 46 years - most of their customers being nice people like Dorothy's daughter, Liz Kincaid, or a few naughty ones who tried to rob them 29 times.

While attending school, George lived at 8016 Meridian Ave. N (in the Licton Springs neighborhood) for a couple of years. And in 1957 the Bensons made their home in the View Ridge community for the next 45 years.

In 1973, George got into Seattle politics and was elected to the City Council for five terms (20 years).

And he became the driving force in establishing a waterfront streetcar line.

First of all he needed to track down several 1920 vintage streetcars - which he did - locating them in Melbourne, Australia, and buying them for $5,000 each. Then he recruited hundreds of volunteers to refurbish them - including the interior Tasmanian mahogany and White Ash woodwork - ending up with five beautifully restored vehicles.

When obstacles were encountered, it was said, "Benson kept everyone on track, and never let the project be derailed."

On one hand George was busy negotiating agreements and setting up improvement districts; and on the other hand he was not above picking up trash between tracks, and shining the headlamps.

It took eight years to work out all of the problems, but on May 29, 1982, the Waterfront Streetcar (No. 99 designating its route) made its debut running between Myrtle Edwards Park and Pioneer Square.

On June 1 of this year, a Waterfront Streetcar 20th Anniversary Celebration was held at Occidental Park in Pioneer Square. It began with a procession of the UW Marching Band from Third Avenue and Main Street to Occidental Park, directly followed by a Waterfront Streetcar.

There were a lot of speeches, and King County Executive Ron Sims surprised Benson by officially designating the streetcar line as the "George Benson Waterfront Streetcar Line." It now handles a half-million passengers a year.

The last couple of years my wife Dorothy and I had frequently run into George and Evelyn lunching at the University Village Burgermaster on Sundays - which we miss now since Evelyn died this past April.

George now lives at Ida Culver House in Broadview, where we recently had lunch with him. And we hope to see him again from time to time. For George really is a NICE GUY.