Andrew BENEFIEL

1961 - 2021

BENEFIEL, Andrew Dean Andrew came into this world on September 16, 1961 with this twin brother Daniel. He had two older brothers. Andrew "Andy" grew up in Virginia and Clearwater, FL. He graduated from Clearwater High School, loved to play golf and baseball, and graduated from University of South Florida with a degree in Finance. Following the footsteps of his dad and brother he joined the Navy. He lived in California, Louisiana, Washington, Japan and Italy. He was in charge of junior sailors and was well respected. He traveled all over the world and made lifelong friends. Married twice, he had a beautiful daughter Jenna, that he loved dearly and never got to spent enough time with. He always talked about her and bragged about her accomplishments to his friends. Andy retired after 22 years from the Navy and settled in Jacksonville, FL. With a new life ahead of him, he worked in different places until he joined a mortgage company. He became a witness for the company. He loved this job. He was very good at it. He made many more friends and traveled through the state of Florida. He had a great sense of humor. He loved a good conversation and could talk with anyone about anything and had strong opinions about a lot of things. Andy moved to the Clearwater area later and loved being back to his childhood town. He loved to swim in a pool, but at the beach, but didn't like to get more than his feet wet. He knew all the good movies. Favorite eating spot was anywhere oceanside, eating seafood and a good steak. He was an avid sports fan. He had season tickets to the Bolts and Rays. He watched the Bucs at the sports bar. Andy was diagnosed with diabetes in his 50s and had a hard time controlling it. This eventually led to kidney failure and losing his toes and then his leg, up to the knee. But this didn't stop him. He learned to walk, drive and work again, but kidneys didn't get better and he was later diagnosed with esophagus cancer which was still spreading. He spent lots of time with radiation and chemo treatments along with this dialysis three times a week. He would suffer through the week with pain and wait until Friday to go to the hospital and get released on Sunday to be at work on Monday. When Covid hit, he was able to work from home which helped. He stayed strong during all this. He was so brave doing this all alone, since family and friends were out of town/state. He was so physically weak at the end. He died August 9, 2021, at the hospital at the age of 59. Preceded in death by this parents, Murl and Thelma and brother Thomas, he is survived by brother, Daniel and wife Sharon; his brother, Joseph; and his daughter, Jenna and close friends. No services will be held, but please give your loved ones a big hug and tell them you love them often. Raise a toast to Andrew while eating at the beach somewhere.