Margaret Benker, centenarian

Margaret Gohl Benker, 100, of Manahawkin, N.J., died Wednesday, July 6, at Southern Ocean Medical Center there.

Born in Northeast Philadelphia, she graduated from a secretarial curriculum at the former St. Leo's Commercial School there.

In 1935, the year she turned 19, Mrs. Benker began making relays at the General Electric switchgear plant near 69th Street and Elmwood Avenue.

"Even at her 100th birthday" in April, said granddaughter Bonnie Rose, Mrs. Benker "could recite the relay definition they had required her to learn" in the 1930s.

The definition, Rose said: "A relay is a device which is operative to exchange a physical or electrical condition to affect the operation of other devices in an electrical circuit."

In October 1937, she married Robert Benker, who became a plant operations supervisor during his career of more than 40 years at the Southwest Philadelphia GE site, Rose said.

She became a homemaker and, after settling in Drexel Hill, the Benkers in 1950 built their summer home in North Beach Haven, N.J. It is still owned by the family.

In 1975, they moved from Drexel Hill to a house they built in North Fort Myers, Fla. They spent part of each year in the North Beach Haven home.

Rose said that when her mother, Barbara Benker Neil, was growing up, her grandmother, Mrs. Benker, was a Girl Scout leader.

Mrs. Benker moved to Manahawkin in January 2013 to live with her daughter, Rose said. While there, she played bingo and other games during visits three times a week to a senior day-care center in Little Egg Harbor, N.J.

In Florida, she said, Mrs. Benker took part in bowling competitions from 1976 to 1986, the year she turned 70.

And over the years, Mrs. Benker was known for singing to herself as she went about her chores. Before she entered a room, Rose said, "you would know her, coming around the corner."

Janice Saibel had known Mrs. Benker since 1952, shortly after Saibel graduated from a Pittsburgh high school in 1951.

She met Mrs. Benker because the family of her future husband, Mahlon, owned a North Beach Haven home across from the Benkers'.

"My husband and Bob were very close friends," she said of Robert Benker. "The four of us enjoyed the beach together."

And over the decades, Saibel saw Mrs. Benker "as an old-fashioned homemaker from the '30s and '40s."

One indication: "She ironed his shirts."

Besides her daughter and granddaughter, Mrs. Benker is survived by two grandsons and seven great-grandchildren. Her husband died in 2000.

A visitation was set from 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 16, at St. Francis of Assisi Church, 4700 Long Beach Blvd., Brant Beach, before an 11 a.m. Funeral Mass there.

Donations may be sent to a food bank of one's choice.

Condolences may be offered to the family at www.allowayfh.com.

wnaedele@phillynews.com

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