Pauline Evelyn was the first of eleven children born to Robert Glenn Shook and Burbie Allie Hefner. Later in life, she thought Pauline was old fashioned and changed her name to Paula. She was raised on a farm in Taylorsville, NC and as a teenager eloped and married Sam Benfield. She attended school at Wittenburg in Taylorsville and programs at CPCC and Adelphi Business School in New York.
She worked as a looper at Nebels Knitting, at Doubleday Publishing in New York, at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany, at The Barringer Inn and LaRoma Restaurants in Charlotte, and she retired from Hamricks of Charlotte. She was also part owner of The Submarine Shack in Charlotte.
Our Mother, Our Mur-Mur, has left us. Dementia took over her last ten years.
She taught Sunday School and held Scripture Bees for children and youth. For several years, when Sam was a Pastor, she was there to give a listening ear and help people in need. A child’s room became a place of beauty with a new bedspread, curtains and a table skirt. There were new dresses for an event and she gave plants from the garden she helped make. When children walked through the garden, her flowers were often taller than them. The vegetable garden produced food for the summer and canning for the winter. She designed her home and Kessel Isenhour built it.
Pauline and Sam divorced in 1959 and twenty years later when he was sick with cancer and deemed legally incompetent she took him into her home and she and Jerry, her youngest child, cared for him until Sam’s death in 1983.
She painted oil on canvas scenes for each member of her family. She wrote poetry and was published. She was the center of a family gathering on holidays and we so laughed and enjoyed games of “Partridge in a Pear Tree” and” Pictionary” causing belly shaking laughter. My how she enjoyed the music, the laughter, singing, and the togetherness we shared. She loved the sound of laughter and families having a grand time together. If you were having an event and she was invited, if possible, she came.
She helped with homework, taught us piano, played the guitar, gave the boys a room upstairs for their band to practice, and turned a room into a resin mold room for her new interest. We enjoyed her sledding in the snow, ice skating, fishing at the beach with her Mother and saying, “ Come on Blue, jump on my pole.” Friday and Saturday night sleepovers included food and scary movies, ball games, Baptisms, field day, leaf collections, weddings, plays, receptions, and recitals. Ice skating with lumps from falling didn’t deter her - she came again the next week. She helped her family by picking up the kids at school.
She voiced and walked against the Vietnam War. She volunteered to collect food for those in need, she participated in backyard bible studies for kids, youth and parents, and she attended Sunday School classes where she was a member. As a member of the Bible Study Missions group, if you needed a ride to get there, she was glad to pick you up. She collected food for the needy. She has been known to help a pig with a broken leg, feed someone else’s dog, and feed stray cats, and not just feed them, but take their dishes in and wash them for the next feeding. She helped an injured squirrel back to health, she lived in the room with you after a pneumonia bout, even though the hospital released you. She was a babysitter when one was needed, she received handmade cards from grandchildren and great grands and treasured those they made with her during their visits.
She prayed for us and the Lord answered prayers. She witnessed Christ to many people in her forgiving, and in praying, in understanding, in God’s answers in her life and belief in Jesus Christ, her Savior, and in study of the bible. We will remember her with love as our friend, our Mur-Mur, our loved one.
Paula was preceded in death by her parents, Glenn and Burbie Shook; her youngest son, Jerry Benfield; the father of her children, Sam Benfield; her brothers, Herman Shook, Marvin Shook (Faye), Conley Shook (Ravy), Harvey Shook (Carol Ann), and Gene Shook (Lib); her sister, Betty Chapman (Clyde); and her brother-in-law, Don Kirby.
Those left to honor Paula's memory include her children, Alma Simms (Dewey), Paul Benfield (Donna), John Benfield, and Rebecca (Neil) Hawn; her grandchildren, Lisa Lewis (Jack), Susan Rice (Jeff), Ashley Tsiukes (Mike), Danielle Benfield, Aaron Benfield (Terri), Joey Brown (Tosha), Veronica Sherrill (Kyle), LeShea Long, and Jeff Long (Melissa); her great grandchildren, Blaine Lewis (Lauren), Michael Lewis, Landon Alexia Rice, Lauren Elizabeth Rice, MiKayla Nicholson (Brandon), Gavin Tsiukes, Sienna Tsiukes, Truette Tsiukes, Trenton Tsiukes, Cameron Benfield (Cynthia), Jeremiah Benfield, Jackson Benfield, Olivia Benfield, Magen Brown, Braxton Brown, Caleb Brown, Ethan Pierce (Ari), Kirsten Pierce, Kennedy Traynor, and Kordak Genevese; her great great grandchildren, Oliver Joseph Pierce, Autumn Grace Ely, and Everly Nicholson; her sisters, Carolyn Sigmon (Cloyd), and Martha Kirby; her brothers, Steve Shook and Jimmy Shook (Janice); as well as numerous loving nieces, nephews, other relatives, and friends.
Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the Fox family from 11:00am until 12:00pm on Thursday, September 30, 2021 at Forest Lawn West Cemetery, 4601 Freedom Drive in Charlotte. The graveside service will be conducted at 12:00pm following the visitation with Rev. Dr. Kendell Cameron, Senior Pastor at First Baptist Church of Mount Holly, to officiate.
