Sadie Lucille Shank Kesler Benn
Sadie Lucille Shank Kesler Benn
September 02, 1930 - February 10, 2025
Sadie Lucille Shank Kesler Benn died February 10, 2025 at her home in Check, Floyd County. She was born September 2, 1930, in Roanoke, the daughter of Tonsa and Evelyn Shank, natives of Floyd County. Besides Roanoke City, as a child she lived with her parents in Columbus, Ohio, and Floyd County. She graduated from Check High School in 1947.
Her 1950 marriage to Leo E. Kesler of Salem ended in divorce.
She graduated from the Lynchburg General Hospital School of Nursing in 1955, and later moved to Washington, D.C. She worked as a Registered Nurse at George Washington University Hospital and elsewhere in the area. She became one of the first qualified women nursing home Administrators in Virginia and ran Sleepy Hollow Manor Nursing Home from 1963-1969 only leaving due to moving out of the area in the 1970s she lived in Woodbridge, Va., where her second husband, Charles D. Benn, a pilot and flight instructor, managed the new Woodbridge Airport. After he retired, they lived in Alexandria, Va., until moving to Salem, Va., in 2003. Mr. Benn died in 2004. A son, Larry M. Kesler, a Washington, D.C. graphics designer, died in 1995.
Survivors include one of two sons from her first marriage, Rodney L. Kesler, and wife Peggy; grandson Matthew T. Kesler (Ashley); granddaughter Tanya Kesler Hicks (Derrick); and brother David W. Shank, and Great-Grandchildren Kaylan Kesler, Braedan Kesler, Paige Alley, Colton Alley, all of Check. Several nieces and nephews.
In recent years, in declining health, she and family are grateful for the assistance and the loving care by Sherry Yopp, Jenny Akers, Courtney Creasy, Sable Manning, Carla Peters and Tanya Hicks who was not only a loving granddaughter, was also a caregiver to her grandmother and at times partner in crime. Among other caregivers were Nicole Reed, Tiffani Caldwell, Jenny Carter, Julie Shearing, and Britney Franklin. Peggy Kesler was a caregiver and oversaw her health care needs.
A memorial service will be held at a later date.
