Monday, October 20, 2025
Hello, my name is Bob Wilson and my family and I (Sabina, Emily and Melanie) were blessed to call The Bensons our friend and neighbor. We moved into Warminster in 2008 and for 16 years we had Shirley and Bill as our friends. That first Christmas was a delight when Bill came over to hand us our tray of Christmas cookies. I remember saying something like, “you didn’t have to do this” and Bill said something in that slow confident drawl, “she’s making them anyway so might as well have some”. We remember her impeccable penmanship on the gift tag and how delicious the cookies were. Our first home we had a terrible neighbor so when we moved next to Shirley and Bill we cherished them because they were such great people. We would try our best to help out any chance we got (and not just for the cookies, lol) but because of the way they extended out their hands of friendship that you do not see a lot in today’s age. We were amazed that she had Two ovens to make cookies and even in her advancing years when she wasn’t doing as many we took devilish pleasure that we still made the cut. Cookies aside, Bill would cultivate his garden and bring us tomatoes and cucumbers. One day his lawn mower caught on fire and he was standing next to it and didn’t notice until I ran over with a bucket of water to put it out, Shirley poked her head out and just rolled her eyes in a way that comes to being married for as long as they were. They always had Christmas gifts for our girls. Tried to sneak money to me after I would help shovel or plow their driveway (which was no problem and always My pleasure). I would refuse but Shirley would say sternly, ”give it to the girls” I just couldn’t refuse after that. Due to the death of my own mother in 2024 we had to move in with my aging father to take care of him and that was a hard decision because we didn’t want to leave Shirley with new neighbors because she told me she adamantly she did not want to move out of her home. Now we only saw the sweet older woman during our time but I could see underneath the fire to remain independent. We would have talks about her family over the back fence or when they would invite us in. I could tell she was extremely proud of her family and loved them very much. They spent most of their time in their Florida room and if we glanced out there to see if they were ok there as always a Phillies game on or news but they were always together. I know this is a spot for memories of Shirley but when you talk of her you Have to include her soulmate. They were fantastic people and we are very proud to call them friends. We will miss her terribly and our condolences to the family that she loved so much.
