Catherine T. Benda

Our incredible Mother, Catherine T Benda, who traversed this beautiful earth for 96 productive years, has peacefully passed over on Monday, January 11, 2016, and joined her loving husband, George J Benda; her parents, Matyas Cizler and Ann Piecek Cizler; and her sisters, Vicki Simek, Barbara Garvey and Rosemarie Kravcar.

She is survived by her brother, Matyas Cizler; and her children, Theresa (Michael) Lieb; and George (Barbara) Benda. She has also been blessed with 5 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren, Lisa Devitt and her husband, Tim with their children, Steven, Daniel and Stephanie; Christine Lieb and her child Matthew Kubiak and his wife Emily; Michelle Lopez and her husband, Max, with their children, Branden and Ashley; Timothy Lieb and his wife Deanne, with their children, Timothy and Meghan; and Taimi Riley and her husband, Michael and their child, Connor; along with many Nieces and Nephews.

Catherine loved spending time with her family; whether it was playing cards or gathering around the table to eat a delicious meal she had prepared. Some of our favorite foods she made were her Kolachky and Chicken Noodle Soup. Her great-grandson, Daniel, always said, "nobody makes scrambled eggs like Great Grandma!" She also had several hobbies. Besides cooking and baking she enjoyed crocheting, gardening and was also fluent in the Czech language.

Catherine's birthday and Tim, her grandsons birthday are just days apart, Tim cherished the times they would spend celebrating their birthdays together.

Once Catherine and George, her husband, had retired to Florida, she became very active in the mobile park where they lived. They loved going to bingo night, she participated in water aerobics and since she was such a great cook, the other residents relied on her to provide the main part of the meal whenever they had a gathering.

Catherine was a "smarty-pants" literally, In elementary school, she was so intelligent that she skipped two grades. Most people use a pencil when they do a crossword puzzle, but not Cathe , she almost always used a pen.

She had a huge heart. She and George took their future grandson-in-law, Tim, into their home so they could care for him while he recovered from a concussion he sustained in a car accident. She is also the one that got him hooked on watching Days of Our Lives. Every weekday at 12:00 noon, she would prepare lunch and they would eat while watching the soapie. That led to Tim getting Lisa hooked on the soap and they have been watching it ever since (30+years).

Another program she enjoyed watching were the British Comedies. Terry, her daughter, would put them on for her and her comment would be "Oh, this is an old one."

When her grandchildren were younger, she would take them into her bedroom and let them try on all of her costume jewelry. Timmy took it one step further.....one night Cathe and George were getting ready to leave their daughters home, and Timmy went into the closet, put on Cathe's coat, her gloves and her hat and starts walking towards George saying "Let's go George....Come on George....Let's go.....It's time to go.....Let's go George." Everyone cracked up laughing because as you can guess, this is usually what transpired after a visit at their house.

Cathe and George would sometimes babysit the grandchildren and have them spend the night at their house in Brookfield. Cathe would tuck them in at night and sit in the rocking chair while she "ho-pied" us to sleep. Fast forward quite a few years and her great grandchildren recall taking turns sleeping with her when they came to visit.

As the Grandkids got older, they learned their grandmother did not have an easy childhood. Her parents died when she was only six years old, and she went to live with a lady whom they would later come to know as Babi. Little did she know that Babi would one day come to live with her and George.

Cathe was always a very generous person. If someone needed help, she was there (or she sent George!), if they needed money, she would ask "how much" and she always gave all of the love she had to give. She was even sending money to the Native Americans, and they in turn would send her everything under the sun; blankets, shirts, socks and she in turn would give those items either to her great-grandchildren or other charities that needed clothing. She actually donated so much money to charities and the IRS questioned her....guess they couldn't believe that someone could be that generous.

But above everything else, Cathe's faith was the most important thing to her. She prayed the rosary every day and attended Mass religiously until she physically couldn't attend anymore.

The Lieb children's anagram for their grandma is:

G-Generous

R-Resilient

A-Amazing

N-Nice

D-Darling

M-Magnificent

A-Awesome

Catherine Benda was all of these things and more! She was truly one of a kind and we will all miss her very much.

A visitation will be held at Serenity Funeral Home on Thursday, January 14, 2016 from 5pm to 7pm. The funeral mass will be held at St. Jerome’s Catholic Church in Largo, FL on Friday, January 15, 2016 at 10am. Burial will follow at Serenity Gardens Memorial Park. Serenity Funeral Home has been entrusted with arrangements.