Elizabeth "Beth" Benda Morell née Johnson passed away on June 26, 2020 after a long battle with dementia. She was born in Staunton, Virginia on December 8, 1936, to Clifford Johnson and Elizabeth Everett.
She travelled and lived around the world for much of her childhood, including time in Puerto Rico, Brazil, and Germany, and was one of the first civilians allowed with her family into post-WWII Germany through her father’s employment with the Coca Cola Company. Her family eventually settled in Rockingham, North Carolina where her roots could be traced back to before the American Revolution.
Her family later moved to Bronxville, N.Y. where she met her high school sweetheart and future husband of 50 years, Robert “Bob” Morell. Together, they had four children: Thomas, Elizabeth, Catherine and Helen. She loved watching the family expand to eventually include ten wonderful grandchildren whom she greatly loved and to whom she was affectionately known as "Benda".
She was a devoted wife and mother, an excellent seamstress, cook, interior decorator and entertainer who greatly enjoyed family, friends and music. She loved spending time in Vermont at the family cabin, in Hilton Head for summer family reunions and traveling whenever she could to visit life-long friends. She was also active in the Catholic Church. One of her favorite memories was living with her family in Paris in the 1970’s.
She is predeceased by her parents, her brother Clifford “Kip” Johnson and her husband Bob. She is survived by her four children and their spouses and her beloved grandchildren Christopher, John, Abigail, Elizabeth, Zachary, Andrew, Robert Trenton, Sarah, Caroline, and Michael. She will be laid to rest at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York next to her husband in the family mausoleum.
In lieu of flowers the family is requesting contributions be made to Catholic Charities.
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