Dreamers Of Dreams: Marshall And Nancy Benjamin

from The Benjamin School Buccaneer Magazine Spring 2021 - 60th Anniversary Edition

by TheBenjaminSchool

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DREAMERS OF DREAMS:

MARSHALL AND NANCY BENJAMIN

“The work of today is the history of tomorrow, and we are its makers.”

– Juliette Gordon Low, Founder, Girl Scouts

Marshall and Nancy Benjamin were history’s makers. Their life’s work — to educate young people and endow them with the skills to be confident learners, global citizens, and thoughtful leaders, continues to be realized at The Benjamin School of today.

They were the “dreamers of dreams,” visualizing a small tract of land along the U.S. 1 corridor that was once euphemistically called a “jungle-like setting,” as a premiere independent day school. They were true pioneers, charting a new frontier in private school education. In many ways, they were convention breakers of their time.

The indomitable pair were ardent believers in the importance of education, character development, and the potential of all young people. By all historical accounts, the Benjamins wanted a school that did not exclude anyone for any reason other than merit, including because of a lack of funds.

North Palm Beach Private School began as a modest, two-room schoolhouse, opening in 1960 to two classes of eager kindergarteners. Former student LaVonne Stiffler, in an archived letter, recalled enjoying punch and graham crackers as a kindergarten student, the reading corner, the smell of ditto machine handouts, games of tetherball with Mr. B., raising pond polliwogs, and playing with rabbits.

“In the early days, there were several parents who worked for the school or drove a van, so that their children might be taught by Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin. Tuition came to about $25/month for kindergarten and $45 for grade 1,” she wrote.

Hers is one of many fond memories of the School’s early days.

Longstanding Lower School teacher Joanna Hogan remembers being offered her original job as Mrs. Benjamin’s assistant in 1971. She received the offer the day before her husband died.

“I have always felt it was a providential gift,” Hogan said.

“I was left with 4 and 5-year-old sons who adored their dad. At this crucial time in their lives, Marshall Benjamin met me at the circle drive before school every morning for several weeks and taught my son, Tom, how to ride a bicycle. This gesture and the support from people at the school have always been incredible. The Benjamin School is more like a family than a schooI . . . I know of no other school where response to those in need is so prevalent,” she said.

Hogan’s is one of a multitude of reverent memories of the Benjamins’ kindness. These memories are woven together in a tapestry of letters — some you will read here — that have, in some cases, long outlived the individuals to whom they were addressed. The Benjamins’ quiet, good work and humanitarianism are evident throughout these letters, and the quality of their character is distilled.

It’s in these correspondences that you will see the breadth and depth of those whose lives have been — and continue to be — touched by the Benjamin experience.