SuEllen Benson Obituary

In a home by the beach, there is a sign sitting alone on a bookshelf reading "Pajamas all day." It was one of the housewarming gifts SuEllen Benson got when she moved from Dayton, OH to Supply, NC in the summer of 2023. She had just watched her youngest child graduate high school and turned to her husband to say, "I want to live by the beach." For years she had followed him through his career moving from Washington State to Kansas, then Illinois, then to Ohio making each home bright and beautiful, finding friends for the kids, all while studying to be a nurse. She brought the sunshine with her. In Ohio, she took a position at Dayton Children's hospital where she worked for more than 12 years, being kind and caring to the children, the parents, and the staff. In 2017 she was diagnosed with breast cancer, went through treatment, and was declared clean five years later. The move to the coast was her chance to enjoy the sun and surf with family and her best friends who also wanted to move to the area. SuEllen worked at the New Hanover hospital in Bolivia where colleagues loved her warmth and energy. When not at work, she would spend hours walking the shoreline collecting shells. When at home, she enjoyed sitting on her back porch with a cup of tea, counting the herons and egrets that lived on the lake. October of 2024, she went to the hospital for pain in her abdomen. Doctors ran a CT, which she was able to review herself. Quietly, she took her husband's hand and said, "We had a good run." The breast cancer had come back. On Friday, March 7, 2025, SuEllen died as a mother, wife, and friend, in her pajamas, in the one house she genuinely wanted, surrounded by the people and the very floofy dog she adored.
No services are planned at this time. To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of SuEllen, please visit our floral store.