Ann Winslow Shelnutt Benzel

Ann Winslow Shelnutt Benzel, mother of six, grandmother of 11, great-grandmother of five, accomplished horticulturalist and lifelong musician, died peacefully, surrounded by family, on January 17, 2022, at Kendal at Longwood in Kennett Square, Pa., just a few miles from the old white farmhouse where she had lived for most of her life. She was 92.

She and her husband, Charles Frederick Benzel Jr., moved from Greenville, Delaware, to that 18th-century farmhouse on 76 acres in the rural, rolling Pennsylvania countryside, in 1962.

They raised their children there; Ann began planting her gardens and Charles, a stockbroker who had ridden as a jockey on the steeplechase circuit, tended horses. Ann cooked prodigiously and painted the walls of each room in the old house herself. Charles built fences, kept up the stable and mowed the fields. They delighted in each other, their children, the place and their children's friends. They cared for Ann's mother, Kathryn Shelnutt, who lived on the farm for the last decade of her life, and Charles's parents, Charles F. Benzel Sr. and Janet Bass Benzel, who lived in Greenville.

Ann loved to read and fostered that love in her children with weekly trips to the library, where the armloads of books borrowed every week included a stack of Regency romances for her mother. She also loved music; she filled the house with it and made sure each of her children took at least a few years of music lessons.

Ann was a soccer mom long before the term was coined, a regular on the sidelines of whatever sport her children were engaged in. In her later years she became an avid tennis fan. She was engrossed not just with the game but the personalities, and loved the soap operas involving top players' families and romances.

As family demands lightened, Ann resumed her own piano studies; she particularly enjoyed Bach, Chopin and Gershwin. She deepened her involvement in gardening and horticulture, including serving as president of the West Chester Garden Club, horticulture chair of the Philadelphia Flower Show and Garden Club of America horticulture judge. She volunteered at the Tyler Arboretum and as a music teacher at the Tick-Tock Early Learning Center. She was a longtime member of a book group.

Born in Wilmington, Delaware, on Dec. 15, 1929, the third child of Kathryn Winslow Shelnutt and James Birket Shelnutt Jr., Ann attended the Wilmington Friends School. She had a childhood populated by elderly relatives who regaled her with stories of their international travels and took her to the Adirondacks during the summer. She attended Bennett College and graduated from the University of Delaware, where she studied music, education and literature. She and Charles were married on April 28, 1952.

When, as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army, Charles was stationed in Kaiserslautern, Germany, Ann accompanied him and taught elementary school on the Army base. When they returned to Greenville she became a teacher at the Tatnall School.

Ann didn't have occasion to travel again for decades, but when she did, she discovered she loved flying. She also loved the beach, and joined her family on many seaside vacations.

At Kendal, where she had volunteered in the gardens well before she moved there, she was an enthusiastic participant in many activities, particularly if music was involved.

Her husband, Charles, died in 2012. Ann's survivors include her daughters Jan Winslow Benzel, Kathryn Elizabeth Benzel McConnell, Ann Derickson Benzel Gawthrop, Jeanne Bringhurst Benzel, Nancy Birket Benzel, and her son, Charles Frederick Benzel III.

Her sons-in-law: Bruce Weber, William McConnell, James Gawthrop, Kevin Corcoran; and her daughter-in-law, Judy Mimeault.

Her grandchildren: Rebecca and Julia Rohrer; William (married to Cinthia) and Thomas McConnell and Katy Tooker (married to Graham Tooker); Jim (married to Valerie Boudreaux), Brian and Justin Gawthrop; and Taylor, Lee and Remy Benzel.

Her great-grandchildren: Dylan, Peyton and Asher Gawthrop; and Carlos and Mateo McConnell.

In lieu of flowers Ann's family suggests that donations be made to the Tick Tock Early Learning Center, 1694 Baltimore Pike, Avondale, Pa. 19311, or the Brandywine Red Clay Alliance, 1760 Unionville-Wawaset Road, West Chester, Pa. 19382.

Arrangements by Kuzo Funeral Home of Kennett Square, PA.