Harry Benson, Jr

Harry Lloyd Benson Jr., former principal of Boca Raton High School and Palm Beach County School District Director of Secondary Education, passed away Fri., Aug. 1, from complications after knee-replacement surgery in Viera, Fla. He was 76. Benson was born in Delray Beach, Fla. in 1937, the oldest of four children of Berneice and Harry Lloyd Benson. He was raised on a dairy farm near the beach in the Delray/Boynton area. While attending the University of Florida, he married his college sweetheart, Martha, and in 1961 started work at J.C. Mitchell Elementary School in Boca Raton. In 1963, he moved to the new Boca Raton Community High School, where for 11 years he was well-loved and respected as a teacher, coach, dean and principal. He was promoted to the Palm Beach County School District administration in 1974. In 1991, he retired from the school district after 31 years and pulled a reverse-snowbird, moving to North Conway, N.H., as superintendent. After nearly seven years of cold and snow, he and Martha moved back to Florida and settled in Viera, near Melbourne. He loved his part-time job as a starter at Turtle Creek Golf Club, where to perfect his game of ""FLOG"" — ""golf"" spelled backward, he always said, because that's about how good his game was. Benson is survived by his devoted wife, Martha; his daughter, Diane Benson Harrington (Scott) of Madison, Wis.; his grandchildren, Kristina (19) and Kathy (21) Benson, and Jack (17) and Ben (15) Harrington; his sister, Myrtle Calbert, and brother, Burt Benson, as well as daughter-in-law, Penny Brown Benson. He was preceded in death by his parents, brother Marvin Benson and, in November 2013, by his son, David Benson. The two are probably playing at a never-ending father-son golf tournament in the sky, where his swing has undoubtedly improved. The family will have a private service. Condolences can be offered at Beckman-Williamson Funeral Home (www.BeckmanWilliamson.com). In lieu of flowers, please donate to the National Stroke Association or your favorite charity.