By Rebecca Goodman
The Cincinnati Enquirer

BLUE ASH - Bellevue native Gwendolyn Kindel was working as a department store window designer in New York when she met Raymond Benza, her future husband, around 1942.

After the wedding, the couple moved back to Greater Cincinnati, where the groom went to work for the bride's father's business, R.E. Kindel.

Mrs. Benza, a 30-year Montgomery resident, died Nov. 10 at Hospice of Cincinnati in Blue Ash of cancer. She was 82.

"She had many, many friends. She just devoted herself to so many individuals. She was a very trusting person, and very honest," said her daughter, Anita Deye of Symmes Township. "Her children were of the most importance in her life - and her grandchildren."

Mrs. Benza sang with Sycamore Singers and played piano for the Clifton Music Club, the Keyboard Club and the Montgomery Woman's Club.

She also loved to cook and had a strong interest in nutrition. When she was a volunteer at the Bethesda North Hospital gift shop, she used to chide staffers who ate candy.

She was a graduate of Hughes High School and received a bachelor's degree from the University of Cincinnati, where she was a member of Zeta Tau Alpha.

She was preceded in death by her husband in 1993. Besides her daughter, survivors include two sons, Raymond Kindel Benza of Lebanon and Glenn Allan Benza of Loveland; eight grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Services have been held. Entombment was in Gate of Heaven Cemetery Mausoleum, Montgomery.

Memorials may be made to Hospice of Cincinnati, P.O. Box 633597, Cincinnati 45263-3597.

E-mail rgoodman@enquirer.com