Ellen E. Benson, longtime Lawnside postmaster, local historian, and celebrated church leader, has died at 88

Ellen E. Benson, 88, of Lawnside, longtime borough postmaster, celebrated church leader, co-owner of the Benson Multicultural History Museum, former journalist, and community advocate, died Sunday, Dec. 17, of complications from Parkinson’s disease at Virtua Voorhees Hospital.

Born in nearby Magnolia and raised in Lawnside, Mrs. Benson was an acknowledged grande dame of the historic South Jersey borough in the middle of Camden County. She was Lawnside’s postmaster for more than three decades, treasurer of the school board in the 1980s and ‘90s, and lifelong vocal leader in the African Methodist Episcopal church at the local, district, and state levels.

She shared personal poignant stories of local Black history on radio and TV shows for years, and was featured in E. Muneerah Higgs’ 1992 documentary Lawnside: The Haven to Freedom and David J. Dent’s 2000 book In Search of Black America: Discovering the African American Dream.

The Benson Multicultural History Museum, among other things, highlights Lawnside’s role as the first independent, self-governing Black municipality north of Maryland, and Mrs. Benson was the museum’s public face over the last decade. She was also a news editor and headline writer for the now-defunct Lawnside Chronicle in the 1950s, and active with the Lawnside Historical Society, Camden County Historical Society, and New Jersey Historical Commission.

Her contributions to the community grew as Lawnside grew, and she told The Inquirer in 1977: “In a way, I miss the time when it was a tiny town. It was a big family. Now it’s like a little city.”

Mrs. Benson stressed education and collaboration in all her work, and won recognition and service awards from Mt. Pisgah AME Church, the Lawnside Education Foundation, and other church, civic, and government groups. Borough officials presented her with a Hometown Hero flag in 2023 that hangs on Warwick Road.

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Mrs. Benson was postmaster from the late 1950s until her retirement in the mid-1980s, and she oversaw the building of a new post office in 1960, the introduction of home delivery in 1969, and the addition of four zip code numbers in 1983. She was first lady to the Rev. James A. Benson as he pastored to local churches for 30 years, and she mentored other church leaders, sang in choirs, taught religious classes, and did missionary work throughout New Jersey.

She also spent 15 years in the 1990s and 2000s as administrative assistant and personal secretary to the Rev. Dennis L. Blackwell at Asbury United Methodist Church in Woodlynne.

She helped her husband create the Benson museum in 1982 and maintain its accessibility to the community for decades. She traveled to schools, camps, and other community events until recently to represent the museum, and even posted Black history lessons online during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She became a special inspiration to her younger sisters and brothers at 16 after her mother died, and she continued as a source of strength and support for her husband and daughters as they faced challenges later. “I will always remember her unique voice and calming demeanor,” a friend said in an online tribute.

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Born Feb. 4, 1935, into one of the oldest families in Lawnside, Ellen Elizabeth Jackson was the oldest of five children. Her family went to church often, and her father was mayor of Lawnside from 1946 to 1952.

She graduated from Haddon Heights High School in 1952 with the school’s highest grade-point average and studied education for two semesters at Temple University. She then worked as a clerk at the post office for three years before becoming postmaster.

She knew James Benson from Sunday School when they were children, and they married in 1955, and had daughters Tanya, Pamela, and Bethany. Her husband died in 2013.

Mrs. Benson was onetime president and longtime member of the Lawnside Scholarship Club. She loved to shop and send greeting cards on all occasions.

She read the Bible daily and shared her collection of hats, gloves, and shoes freely with family and friends. “She had style,” her family said in a tribute.

Her daughter Bethany said: “People knew they could trust her, that she would be honest with them. She encouraged them and helped them recognize how special they were.”

In addition to her daughters, Mrs. Benson is survived by six grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, two sisters, and other relatives. Two brothers died earlier.

Services were held Dec. 22.

Donations in her name may be made to the Benson Multicultural History Museum, 140 Watkins Ave., Lawnside, N.J. 08045.