Shirley Benjamin – Spotlight

When Shirley Benjamin first offered to introduce the Great Decisions program to the SSILL community, none of us imagined that she’d be leading the group through more than 20 semesters of foreign policy, world history, and global diplomacy. Indeed, she was the facilitator of that program until the end of 2024 when she decided to retire from her post-retirement commitment to SSILL.

A trained professional dancer who spent part of her career with the Joffrey Ballet, Shirley earned her college degrees at Clark University and went on to become one of the founders of the Performing Arts School of Worcester. When she and her husband began to divide their time between Branford and Tucson, Shirley started to attend Tucson’s Great Decisions program and enjoyed the conversations, the sharing of ideas, and the focus on how important issues around the world were being shaped.  Once the program began in Guilford under her guidance, she began to draw dozens of SSILL members into her intellectual circle.  Her dedication to our learning community is unparalleled.  She made personal calls to each participant, researched each discussion topic, assisted volunteers in facilitating sessions, ordered books, and organized each program yearafter year. Great Decisions will continue to be part of the SSILL curriculum with Tom Lee as its new facilitator.

We are incredibly grateful to Shirley for bringing the program to SSILL and for her warmth, sharp intellect and gracious leadership over these past eleven years.