ARLENE GLORIA BENSON's Obituary
Arlene Gloria Benson, who dedicated her senior years to raising money for cancer research, passed away on Oct. 14, 2017, in California, after a tough struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. She was 87 years old.
She will be best remembered for those fundraising efforts in Boca Raton, Fla., for showering her grandchildren with love, attention and gifts, and for the delicious and elaborate parties and dinners she would host for family and friends, especially during the Jewish holidays.
Arlene was born on May 2, 1930, in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Alex and Bertha (“Berdie”) Heller. She graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn, and soon after met a fellow Brooklynite, Sol (“Sam”) Benson. They were married on Feb. 10, 1951, and lived in Brooklyn until they moved to Queens, where they started their family. Ellen was born a little more than a year later, on Feb. 21, 1952. And Mitchel was born on August 21, 1955.
Several years later, the four Bensons made the pilgrimage to Long Island – like so many other young families of that era – settling into a home in Valley Stream.
Arlene would eventually team up with three friends – Elaine Erdman, Shirley Schwartz and Rose Goldstein – to launch and run REESA Boutiques, a business that sold merchandise to charitable organizations, which would then sell the handbags, costume jewelry and other assorted items to raise funds for their respective cases.
Arlene and Sam would later relocate to Boca Raton, first as snowbirds and then as fulltime residents. They both embraced golf – and Arlene began attending aerobics classes – at the local Boca Lago Country Club. It was a good life for many years, highlighted by visits from their children and grandchildren and other family and friends. But in January 1989, Sam passed away from pancreatic cancer. Soon after, Arlene became very active in raising money for cancer research, including the staging of several fundraiser golf tournaments at Boca Lago. She remained active in the fundraising effort for more than two decades.
In January 1994, Arlene met Irving Friedman, a tall handsome widower with a full head of gray hair. They dated for many months and, in July 1995, they participated in a Jewish ceremony to bless their relationship and bring together two families.
Irving’s son, Paul Friedman, remembers his father telling him one day that Irving and Arlene both got lucky twice. The couple would enjoy many trips, family celebrations and cruises together over a 20-year relationship.
Irving passed away in August 2015, and then Arlene suffered another emotional blow less than a year later when daughter Ellen Ann Salerni passed away in April 2016 at the age of 64 after a 5 ½-year-long battle with ovarian cancer.
Ten months later, with her Alzheimer’s progressing, Mitchel and his wife Susan moved Arlene to northern California in February 2017, so they could be closer to her and help care for her. In addition to Mitchel and Susan, Arlene is survived by son-in-law Gene Salerni and five grandchildren. Also mourning her loss are Irving Friedman’s children and grandchildren.
Services are scheduled for Friday, October 20, at 10:15 a.m., at Beth Israel Memorial Chapel, 5808 W. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach, Fla., 33484. Burial will follow at 11:30 a.m., at Eternal Light Memorial Gardens, 11520 State Road 7, Boynton Beach, Fla., 33473.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in Arlene’s name to the Alzheimer’s Association at: http://act.alz.org/goto/arlene_benson. You can also send checks, payable to the Alzheimer’s Association, to 1455 Response Road, Suite 190, Sacramento, CA 95815. Please write “In memory of Arlene Benson” on the memo line.
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