Mary Benza

Mary Cecilia Benza (Miesionczek), nee Horyt died June 7th, 2013 at the Hospice of the Piedmont in Charlottesville, Virginia. She was 88 years old. She was a resident at Our Lady of Peace Retirement Community in Charlottesville, VA. Born in 1924, Mrs. Benza grew up in Yonkers with her parents, Felix and Eva Horyt, and her siblings, Stanley Horyt and Sophie(Horyt) Podruzny . She was a graduate of St. Casimir's Grammar School and Commerce High School. Mrs. Benza married Walter Miesionczek in 1945 and had two children, Laurel Mary and Robert John. Widowed in 1970, Mrs. Benza married Frank Benza of Yonkers in 1973, and became stepmother to Mary and Karen. Mrs. Benza spent a long and productive career working in healthcare as a secretary for the Westchester County Mental Health Clinic in Yonkers, and as a scheduler for Bronxville OB/GYN. A devout Roman Catholic, Mrs. Benza was a lifelong member of St. Casimir’s Church, where she served as a Cardinal's Appeal worker, produced the bulletin, and was a past Prefect of Sodality of Our Lady. In 1978, she served as the first woman chairwoman of the 58th annual St. Casimir’s Bazaar. Mrs. Benza was also a Girl Scout leader and received the Silver Cross conferred by the Archdiocesan Committee on Girl Scouting for "outstanding contribution to the spiritual development of Catholic youth in the program of the Girl Scouts" by laywomen. She was a member of the Secular Franciscan Order Fraternity of Sacred Heart Church in Yonkers and she volunteered at the Hebrew Home for the Blind and St Joseph's Nursing Home of Yonkers. Mrs. Benza is survived by her son, Robert Miesionczek and his wife Kathleen of Brightwood, VA; her stepdaughter Karen King and her husband Roy King of Sag Harbor, NY; her stepdaughter Mary Heagle and her husband Donald Heagle of Mohegan Lake, NY; her sister Sophie Podruzny of Hawthorne, NY; her nieces Nanette Gambelli and Denise Horyt of Ossining, NY and nephew David Horyt of Putnam Valley, NY; as well as seven grandchildren. Her daughter, Laurel Mary Choma, died in 2003. Her brother, Stanley Horyt, died in 2007. Visiting Hours will be at Whalen & Ball Funeral Home on Tuesday 2-4 & 6-9 pm. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in St. Casimir’s Church on Wednesday June 12th at 10 am. Interment will follow at St. Joseph Cemetery. Please visit www.MaryBenza.com for up-to-date information on arrangements and to leave notes of remembrance for the family. In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation, www.naaf.org.

Whalen & Ball Funeral Home

168 Park Ave.

Yonkers, N.Y. 10703

(914)965-5488

www.whalenandballfh.com