Ruth Carkeek Benson

Ruth Carkeek Benson passed away on September 7, 2024, at the age of 101. She was with family in her home at Wesley Palms Retirement Community in San Diego when she passed peacefully following a recent stroke.

Ruth was born in Pasadena, California in 1923, the third of four children of Ruth Russell Carkeek and Charles Burton Carkeek. She was previously married to Andrew A. Benson, PhD, with whom she had four children, Christopher, Claudia (Matthews), Linnea, and Bonnie (Kumar). Ruth was predeceased by her brothers Charles and Stephen, her sister Carol, as well as by her four children, her niece Stephanie Carkeek Bovio, and her nephews, Bruce Murray Carkeek and Charles Bailey Carkeek. She is survived by her loving nieces, Carolyn Carkeek Cramoy, Lesley Carkeek Miner and niece-in-law Lynn Sager Carkeek, and by many grand and great-grand nieces and nephews.

One of Ruth’s great accomplishments was that when the youngest of her children entered kindergarten, she returned to school at Penn State, where her husband was doing research, and earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Education. The family moved to La Jolla in 1962. In 1964, she and her sister Carol founded The Tree House Preschool in Pacific Beach. Ruth continued to teach in public and private schools for 10 more years after the Tree House closed in 1978.

Ruth and Carol moved to Wesley Palms in 2005, following in the footsteps of their mother (Ruth Carkeek) who had been one of the first residents of Wesley Palms from 1962, when it opened, until her death in 1993. Ruth Benson will be remembered at Wesley Palms for her kind, caring, and enthusiastic approach to life, her never-ending willingness to help, and her passion for getting friends together to play games including Skip-Bo, Train Dominos, Rummy-Kub, bridge, and her favorite - Samba (3-deck canasta). Her family will cherish their memories of all the love she gave so unselfishly throughout her life and all the hours she spent playing games with them.

Ruth will be buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, California beside several family members.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Wesley Palms Employee Scholarship Fund, 2404 Loring Street, San Diego, CA 92109. Memories of Ruth that you would like to share with her family can be sent to [email protected].