Beverly Edith Clemence

BEVERLY EDITH (BENSON) CLEMENCE, loving mom, sister, gramma and friend, passed away suddenly and peacefully, surrounded by her family on the evening of Thursday, October 26, 2017, at Anne Arundel Medical Center. She lived her 86 years brimming with love and to the fullest. Born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1930, she was a daughter of Simon and Catherine (Leffingwell) Benson. Bev grew up in Providence (Olneyville), Rhode Island. She graduated from Mount Pleasant High School in 1948 and soon went to work for the Providence Gas Company as a bookkeeper, while taking college classes in Barrington, RI.  She met her late husband, Theodore G. Clemence (Ted), in 1953 in Rhode Island while Ted was in college at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. She and Ted married in 1956 and moved to Maryland in 1963. A resident of Bowie (27 yrs.), Crofton (15 yrs.), and Odenton (12 yrs.), Bev worked in the Maryland Public Library System for 25 years, first in Bowie, and then in two nearby branches before retiring from the Annapolis branch around 2002. She also did volunteer work at the White House during the 1980s and early 1990s. Bev was an active member of Christian Community Presbyterian Church, joining in 1964, and sang alto in her beloved church choir for 53 years. Bev had a vibrant social life, playing bridge with dear church friends and participating in evening and daytime bowling leagues in Crofton, MD, for over 40 years (she bowled as recently as October 17). Before his passing, Ted and Bev traveled extensively; afterwards her continued love of history and travel took her to places like Italy, Sweden, Greece, Spain, China, and England.  In 2005, a tour of Ireland gave her an opportunity to meet, for the first time, some Irish cousins. New England, her ancestral home, was a special place to visit frequently to spend time with her siblings and Benson and Clemence relatives. She had Irish, Swedish, and English ancestry and was proud that her roots went back in New England to the 1640s. Bev loved travel, history, music, drama, and painting -- she herself painted beautifully. She had a true love of reading, especially mysteries, and for all things British. She was a fan of jigsaw, crossword, and word find puzzles. She also enjoyed watching PBS, tennis, golf and baseball on TV. She adored her granddaughter, Alaina, and her loving family and church family were the most important things in her life. Bev felt that having a positive attitude was the key to a long life. She was quoted in her high school yearbook as saying often, “Just keep laughing.” She will be dearly missed by all who knew and loved her but her joyful spirit will live forever in all of us. Bev is survived by her three sons: Andrew B., of Annapolis, MD; Kevin L., his wife, Lara, and their daughter, Alaina, of Odenton, MD; and Thomas L. and his wife, Amy, of Annapolis, MD; a brother, Donald L. Benson, of Warwick, RI; a sister, Connie P. (Benson) Davis, of Dayton, TN; a brother, Barrett C. Benson, of Deering, NH; many cousins, nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews. Bev was preceded in death by her loving husband of 32 years, Ted, who passed away in October 1988 and her beloved sister, Dorothy C. (Benson) Corfield, in October 2011. The family wishes to extend heartfelt thanks for the great care she received at Anne Arundel Medical Center.  A celebration of her life will be held at 11 a.m. on Monday, November 13, 2017, at Christian Community Presbyterian Church, 3120 Belair Dr., Bowie, MD. 20715. She will be buried alongside her late husband, Ted, in a private ceremony at Hillcrest Memorial Cemetery, Annapolis, MD.