James Mac Benefield, 83, died Tuesday, August 26, 2025, peacefully at Orchard Park Assisted Living in League City, TX.  He was born in New Hope, Alabama on May 25, 1942, to James Harvey and Mildred Benefield.  His family later moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee where he graduated from Oak Ridge High School.  Straight out of high school, Mac enlisted in the Navy to honor his country.   Mac proudly served on the AO-147 USS Truckee Neosho-class fleet oiler of the US Navy.  After serving in the Navy, he made his way down to Texas.  Mac proudly spent his career at NASA Johnson Space Center.  He worked for Brown and Root, Lockheed Martin and later retired from Jacobs Technology.  The programs he supported were Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, and the Space Shuttle programs. One of his last projects was working on the James Webb Space Telescope.  He loved family, travelling, gardening, welding and going to his grandson's baseball games.  He also liked watching the Houston Astros.  He is preceded in death by his wife Jeanette Benefield.  They were married for 58 years.  He is survived by his son James Alan Benefield and wife Deborah Vigare-Benefield and their children Ella and Ethan; His stepdaughter Pamela Gautney and her children Mitchell Sweeney, Brandon Gautney and wife Jemma, great-granddaughter Peyton Gautney; his sister, Renda Minor of Tullahoma, Tennessee.

A Memorial Service will be followed by an Honor Guard burial on Thursday, September 4, 2025, at 10:00 a.m.  The service will take place at Confederate Cemetery.  The address is 998 Dickinson Road, Alvin, Texas 77511.