Illuminada Pamintuan Benzon - Obituary

e honor and celebrate The life of Illuminada Benzon, who is a devoted wife and a very loving mother and is now reunited with her youngest sister, Julie, younger brother, Bhoy, and mother, Elena, and father Pacifico on Monday, May 26, 2025, at the age of 71 and three weeks, after battling multiple complications from leukemia. Born in the Philippines on May 5, 1954, in a small town called San Jose, Florida Blanca Pampanga a stones throw from Manila. Immigrating to the United States in 1976 under the sponsorship of a World Bank employee, Josephine Sarmiento, she dedicated her life to building a family and a new life in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. In 1979, she married, Eduardo Benzon. In 1980 she had a son named Joseph Benzon. She resided in Arlington, Virginia; Capital Heights Maryland ; Forestville, Maryland; and finally, Clinton, Maryland.. A devoted wife and mother, she leaves behind a legacy of hard work, unwavering love, and boundless generosity. For over two decades, she served as a nurse in a nursing home, retiring in 2016 as a medical records specialist. Despite being the only member of her immediate family in America, she maintained strong ties to her homeland, returning for the first time in 1996 (After 20 years ), And multiple times with the last visit in 2018. Her main talent; oh what a great cook she was. She can cater a whole feast. She can cook up a whole banquet. Passionate about cooking ever since she was young she would just observe her aunts and her mother, and she would mentally take note of how recipes were made. Meticulously copying what they did for certain dishes. She never wrote anything down she truly cooked from the heart. While her passing is a profound loss to all who knew her – family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors – we find solace in knowing that after bravely battling strokes over the past two years, she is finally at peace. Mary of sorrows, pray for us Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us. In the name of the father and the son the Holy Spirit. Amen. Family and friends are invited to celebrate Illuminada's Life on Friday, June 6th from 2-8 P.M. at the KALAS FUNERAL HOME, 6160 Oxon Hill Road, Oxon Hill, MD 20745