Stella Smith Benson

Stella Smith Benson, 83, of Old U.S. Highway 52 North, Welcome, died Wednesday, June 7, 2006, at her home after declining health for one year and serious illness of three weeks. The funeral will be at 4 p.m. Friday at Spruce Street Baptist Church, where she was a member for 53 years, by the Rev. Terry Coats. Burial will be in Forest Hill Memorial Park. Mrs. Benson was born in Davidson County on Sept. 14, 1922, to James Albert Smith and Mary Bell Morrison Smith. She retired from American Nylon. She was very active in her church, serving as church clerk and as a member of the church choir. She volunteered for Meals on Wheels with the Davidson County Senior Citizens. She was preceded in death by her husband, George Leonard Benson, and three stepchildren, Bud Benson, Pearl Pritchard and Josephine Crawford. Surviving are three sons, George Benson and his wife, Sharon, Ronny Benson and his fiancée, Sindy, and Steve Benson and his wife, Jane, all of Lexington; two daughters, Carolyn Lentfer and her husband, Rick, and Libby Hege and her husband, Dan, all of Lexington; 38 grandchildren; 72 great-grandchildren; two brothers, Luther Smith and his wife, Wilma, of Lexington and Daniel Furr of Spartanburg, S.C.; and one sister, Mary Ann Westbrook and her husband, Daniel, of Lexington. The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 tonight at Davidson Funeral Home, Lexington Chapel, and other times at the home. Memorials may be made to Hospice of Davidson County, P.O. Box 1941, Lexington, NC 27293.