"OUR WOMEN OF SANDWICH"
(2020 Summer Exhibit)
DORIS L. BENZ
1907-1984
Doris Louise Benz (1907-1984) is remembered for her selfless, dedicated service to her chosen town of Sandwich. Though her family roots and winter home were in Lynn, Massachusetts, she considered our town her “real home”, making sure to always extend her summers in North Sandwich for more than six months so that Sandwich was known as her primary residence.
Miss Benz is chosen as one of “Our Women of Sandwich” for her contributions to our community through her work with the Sandwich Historical Society and the Sandwich Fair Association. On her death, the Sandwich Historical Society dedicated the Annual Excursion Bulletin to her as a long-time member who “devoted her special talents for meticulous research, thoughtful counsel, and quiet generosity so that the children of Sandwich forever might know whereof they came”. She lent her talents to the Society as researcher, writer and trustee. For 50 years, she also served the important role of secretary to the Sandwich Fair Association.
Neighbors and colleagues knew her not only as one of the first eight women to graduate from Radcliffe College finance school in 1930, as a noted scholar of Renaissance British literature, and a member of various horticultural and historical organizations in Massachusetts, but also for her more local concerns. Fellows Hill neighbors remember Miss Benz as the one who had trees cut to improve the Weygandt view we all can still share along that road. Close associate and Benz caretaker, Janet Brown, reminisces about her West Highland Whites, “Those dogs were the love of her life.” She and others recall Miss Benz and the impression her fleet of cars made in town. Her primary car was a 1933 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Henley Roadster (one of only seven manufactured and costing $18,000 in the height of the Depression!!!!); she had a second Rolls-Royces and a US station wagon, both used mainly to ferry things back and forth to her Massachusetts residence.
Today Doris Benz is best known for her generous philanthropy. A grant from her estate paid for the construction of the Doris L. Benz Community Center, which is used for meetings, classes, public dinners and fund-raising events by nearly every local civic group and organization, as well as for private parties. During the Center’s first year attendance at programs and activities surpassed 4,500, establishing its great value to the town. The Doris L. Benz Trust was also established to provide a scholarship fund for students of Carroll County, NH, with preference to go to students from Sandwich. With much gratitude we name Doris Benz a Woman of Sandwich!
Miss Benz is chosen as one of “Our Women of Sandwich” for her contributions to our community through her work with the Sandwich Historical Society and the Sandwich Fair Association. On her death, the Sandwich Historical Society dedicated the Annual Excursion Bulletin to her as a long-time member who “devoted her special talents for meticulous research, thoughtful counsel, and quiet generosity so that the children of Sandwich forever might know whereof they came”. She lent her talents to the Society as researcher, writer and trustee. For 50 years, she also served the important role of secretary to the Sandwich Fair Association.
Neighbors and colleagues knew her not only as one of the first eight women to graduate from Radcliffe College finance school in 1930, as a noted scholar of Renaissance British literature, and a member of various horticultural and historical organizations in Massachusetts, but also for her more local concerns. Fellows Hill neighbors remember Miss Benz as the one who had trees cut to improve the Weygandt view we all can still share along that road. Close associate and Benz caretaker, Janet Brown, reminisces about her West Highland Whites, “Those dogs were the love of her life.” She and others recall Miss Benz and the impression her fleet of cars made in town. Her primary car was a 1933 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Henley Roadster (one of only seven manufactured and costing $18,000 in the height of the Depression!!!!); she had a second Rolls-Royces and a US station wagon, both used mainly to ferry things back and forth to her Massachusetts residence.
Today Doris Benz is best known for her generous philanthropy. A grant from her estate paid for the construction of the Doris L. Benz Community Center, which is used for meetings, classes, public dinners and fund-raising events by nearly every local civic group and organization, as well as for private parties. During the Center’s first year attendance at programs and activities surpassed 4,500, establishing its great value to the town. The Doris L. Benz Trust was also established to provide a scholarship fund for students of Carroll County, NH, with preference to go to students from Sandwich. With much gratitude we name Doris Benz a Woman of Sandwich!
