At The Ridglea Senior Living in Fort Worth, they still talk about Johnnie Marie Benson like she’s just stepped out of the room. Maybe that’s because her fingerprints are everywhere — in the way the nurses organize medications, and in the unwritten code that says caring for people isn’t a job. It’s a way of life.
It’s National Nurses Week, and across Texas, there’s no shortage of celebrations for the men and women who keep healthcare running. But at Ridglea, they’re remembering a woman who didn’t just work within a system — she helped build one.
Benson graduated from Texas Wesleyan College in 1948, according to the school’s records. At the time, “nursing home” often meant little more than a spare bedroom and good intentions. There were few regulations, fewer resources, and almost no formal training for the people running them.
That didn’t sit right with her. In the decades that followed, she became one of the first licensed nursing home administrators in Texas. When the state set up a licensing board to oversee the growing field, she was there from day one — serving six years as a charter member of the Texas Board of Licensure for Nursing Home Administrators.
Leadership came naturally: she served six terms as president of the Tarrant County Nursing Home Association, became vice president of the Texas Nursing Home Association, and later served as a member of the Texas State Board of Health.
Her influence reached all the way to Washington, D.C., where she chaired the Residential Care Committee for the American Health Care Association, advocating for a national conversation about elder care long before it became a mainstream issue.
Benson also pushed for practical changes that would ripple through the industry. She championed safer, more organized medication practices at a time when error rates were high and oversight was low. While bubble packaging for medications became widely adopted nationally in the 1970s, leaders like Benson helped create the standards and expectations that made safer medication handling a non-negotiable part of elder care.
“She didn’t just work in healthcare—she helped shape it,” said Stephanie Williams, executive director of The Ridglea Senior Living. “Her impact is still felt every day in communities like ours."
