Calixta Rojas Benitez

It is with profound sorrow that the family of Calixta Benitez announces her passing on October 1, 2026, just days before her 68th birthday. Born on October 14, 1958, in the Yauyos region of Peru, Calixta lived a life defined by faith, courage, perseverance, and, above all, an extraordinary love for children and family.

Calixta grew up in a large family with six sisters and seven brothers. From an early age, she naturally took on the role of caregiver. While her older siblings helped tend animals, traveled to market, and worked to support the family, Calixta often cared for the younger children. Many of her brothers and sisters came to regard her as a second mother—a role that foreshadowed the vocation she would follow throughout her life.

As a young woman, Calixta made the courageous decision to leave Peru and immigrate to the United States in search of greater opportunities and a brighter future. She arrived in a new country, learned English, and began building a life for herself while working as a nanny and caring for children. In time, she married and became a mother to her only son, Jonathan.

Motherhood was one of the great joys and purposes of Calixta's life. She gave her son a childhood filled with learning, adventure, faith, friends, and love. Trips to libraries, the Smithsonian museums, zoos, and countless educational activities were a regular part of their lives together. She encouraged curiosity, music, education, and the courage to try new things. She was deeply involved in his schools and placed enormous importance on education, believing that learning could open doors and transform a person's life.

Her own Catholic faith continued to grow throughout her life. She found spiritual community through the priests and parishioners of St. Martin of Tours, as well as through prayer groups and the Cenacle. The Mass was a source of comfort and joy to her, and her devotion to San Lorenzo, the patron saint of her hometown in Peru, remained with her throughout her life.

Calixta's gift for caring for children became her life's work. She first operated a childcare program from her home and later became a professional early childhood educator. Among the places closest to her heart were Germantown Children's Center and The Arc Montgomery County.

"Ms. Calixta" was far more than a teacher. She brought patience, structure, determination, and affection into her classroom. The children entrusted to her care were not simply students. She loved them with the tenderness and devotion of a mother, and her influence extended far beyond the walls of the classroom.

That same love became even more apparent when Calixta became a grandmother.

To her grandchildren, she was "Lita," short for Abuelita. She adored her four "pollitos"—Basilio, Elias, Toribio, and Isidore—and delighted in helping them learn and grow. Extended visits from Lita often meant new words learned, new skills practiced, and new discoveries made.

Although Peru always remained an important part of who she was, Calixta worked hard to build a life in the United States. She became an American homeowner, paid off her home, owned her own cars, raised her son, built a career, and created a place where family and friends were always welcome.

Calixta also had a deep love of nature. She enjoyed gardening and took special pleasure in the birds, rabbits, and other animals that visited her yard. Animals seemed naturally drawn to her. She loved going to farms and eating the fruit of the earth, likely a love for food, nature and something that brought back memories of her own childhood.

Those who knew Calixta knew that she had strong convictions about how life should be lived. She believed there was a right way and a wrong way to do things—and those who worked alongside her knew how firmly she could hold to that belief.

She taught through both words and example: put your children first; live simply; save for what matters; remember where you came from; try new things; and never stop learning.

Calixta lived those lessons herself. Despite spending her career in childcare, she carefully managed what she had, paid off her home, helped her son pay his student loans, and built a secure and meaningful life through years of discipline and hard work. She remained proud of her Peruvian heritage and never forgot the family, traditions, community, and faith that shaped her.

Above everything else, Calixta was a mother.

She was a mother to her son, a second mother to younger siblings, a loving "Lita" to her grandchildren, and a maternal presence to generations of children who passed through her classrooms. Caring for others was not simply something Calixta did. It was at the heart of who she was.

Calixta is survived by her beloved son, Jonathan Benitez and his wife Siobhan, her four cherished grandchildren, Basilio, Elias, Toribio, and Isidore—her four "pollitos" and the great loves of her life.

She was preceded in death by her mother, her father, and her brother Maximo.

Her family takes comfort in believing that she is now reunited with them in heaven and that the faith she carried throughout her life has brought her home.

Calixta will be remembered for her strength, her determination, her faith, her love of learning and nature, and the remarkable tenderness she showed to children. Her legacy lives on in her family, in the many children she taught and cared for, and in every life made better because she was part of it.

A visitation will be held at DeVol Funeral Home, 10 East Deer Park Drive, Gaithersburg, MD on Thursday, October 8, 2026 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church, 201 S. Frederick Ave., Gaithersburg, MD on Friday, October 9, 2026 at 11 a.m. Interment will be held privately