Dulcenie Agnes Van Benschoten

Dulcenie (Dulcy) Agnes Van Benschoten (née Brousseau), 83, passed away, at home, on September 7th, 2020 in Montgomery TX. Her own end came peacefully in the presence and love of her eldest daughter, Lynda, and Lynda’s husband, Bradley Wood. She was born in Teaneck, New Jersey on July 15th, 1937 to John and Virginia Katherine Brousseau (née Bartsch). Her father was a theatrical carpenter and she often visited the theatre district as a young girl with her family and learned much about Broadway in the forties and fifties, a knowledge she treasured and shared all her life. Both parents, and brother Robert Brousseau, have predeceased Dulcenie. After graduating from Ramsey High School in Ramsey, New Jersey, she briefly worked in an office before marrying. On May 5th, 1957, she and David (Dave) Milton Van Benschoten — were married in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey; Thus began a long and loving union that lasted 60 years, only ending with her husband’s death in 2016. The union produced three children all of whom survive her: Lynda Jeanne Wood, Gail Ann Kelly, and William David Van Benschoten. Her husband’s work in the trucking industry led to the family often moving across the United States -- to Ohio, Colorado, and California -- and in all of these places she created homes filled with warmth, style and the many antiques she prized so much. Though she spent most of her adult life as a wife, home-maker, and parent, she also worked as an office manager at her husbands’ trucking and freight brokerage firms. In their retirement, Dulcy and her husband designed, built, and appointed exquisite miniature homes. She also loved cats and gave them memorable names: Chloe, Pywacket, Tango, and Ziggy were just a few. Her macaroni and cheese was transformative. She was an avid cruciverbalist and loved murder mysteries, watching them almost to the day of her passing. Her passion for film was deep, her knowledge of them profound, especially those featuring actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood. She had a lifelong penchant for watching movies into the wee hours, often nodding off before they ended, a fact that led her husband to quip that while she had probably seen the start and middle of every movie ever made, it was impossible for her to describe how any of them ended. She is survived and mourned by her three children (above); her sons-in-law, Brad Wood and Todd Kelly; her daughter-in-law, Monica Andriacchi, her two grand-children, Samantha Gehman (née Wood) and Dustin Wood, and great-grandchildren Kyleigh & Kamryn Gehman and Bohen Wood. Her extended family includes brothers-in-laws, sisters-in-laws and many nieces, and nephews who kept Dulcenie in prayer from afar and are much appreciated. Dulcenie had an opportunity to spend time with all of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren before she passed. In lieu of a service she has requested a cremation and her ashes will be cast, along with those of her husband David, at a later date.

Dulcenie Agnes Van Benschoten

July 15, 1937 - September 7, 2020