Lizinka Campbell “Zinkie” Mosley Benton

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/97941892/lizinka-campbell-benton

Lizinka Campbell Mosley Benton, age 72, passed away on Tuesday, the 25th of September 2012, in Houston. Zinkie was born on the 8th of March 1940, in Sheffield, Alabama. She grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, and attended Hillsboro High School before going to Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia.

In Virginia, she met the great love of her life, her husband of 40 years, Fred Fox Benton, Jr., whom she married in 1960. In 1962, she earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Texas Western College in El Paso, Texas, where her husband was stationed at Fort Bliss. In 1964, she came to settle permanently in her husband's hometown of Houston, where she was quickly embraced by a close circle of friends who have stayed by her side for fifty years.

A devoted wife and mother, Zinkie also dedicated much of her life to non-profit service. She served for many years as a Trustee, and later as Trustee Emerita, of her alma mater, Randolph-Macon Woman's College. In 2010, she established a scholarship at the College in her mother's honor. Active in her local community, she served on the boards of The Junior League of Houston, River Oaks Property Owners, and River Oaks Foundation.

Zinkie nurtured a lifelong passion for gardening and horticulture, and lent her talent and vast knowledge of plants to community organizations, serving on the boards of the River Oaks Garden Club, the Houston Aboretum and Nature Center, and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin. She was the current Chair of the Board of the Houston Botanic Garden, and was committed to seeing the Garden become a reality for the people of the City of Houston.

While she was so pleased to offer her help in the administration of these organizations, what she really loved was getting her hands dirty. With no academic training, but years of personal study, she designed and implemented an spectacularly beautiful formal garden at her home, and had, for many years, a small business doing the same for friends who were as interested and enthusiastic about plants and design as she was. Zinkie was also an Accredited Horticulture Judge for the Garden Club of America, and traveled to flower shows across the country, cultivating both great insight and great friendships along the way. She freely shared her knowledge, teaching and inspiring friends, family and peers with her passion.

She was faithful congregant at Christ Church Cathedral, Houston, a member of the Houston County Club, and of The National Society of The Colonial Dames.

She was preceded in death by her husband; her mother and father, Joel Ilia Mosley, Jr. and Lizinka Brown Mosley. She is survived by her loving children, Zinka Benton-Rzeznik, and her spouse, Francine, of Guilford, CT; Fred Fox Benton, III, and his wife, Monica, of Houston; Lucia Temple Benton, of Houston; her grandchildren, Fox Benton IV, Abigail Benton, Samuel Benton-Rzeznik and Henry Benton-Rzeznik; her brother, Joel I. Mosley, III, and his wife, Eleanor, of Fort Smith, Arkansas; and her sister, Catherine Charnley, and her husband, Robert, of Pawley's Island, SC.

Zinkie's wit, her way with words and her love of a good party will be sorely missed by her family and many, many friends.

A memorial service is to be conducted at three o'clock in the afternoon on Monday, the 1st of October, at Christ Church Cathedral, 1111 Texas Avenue in Houston, where the Rev. Edward L. Stein, Canon Precentor, is to officiate. Immediately following, all are invited to greet the family during a reception to be held at a venue announced during the service.

At a later date, the family is to gather for a private internment at Glenwood Cemetery in Houston. In lieu of customary remembrances, memorial contributions may be directed to the Houston Botanic Garden, P.O. Box 27510, Houston, TX, 77227; or to a charity of one's choice.

Published in Houston Chronicle from September 28 to September 30, 2012