The family of Charlotte P. Troy regrets to announce her sudden passing earlier this year on January 17, 2022, at the age of 84. She was born Charlotte P. Gourlis of Campbell Street in Woburn, Massachusetts, the daughter of Greek and Sicilian immigrants, with she and her twin Charles the youngest of seven children. After graduating Woburn High School with the class of 1955, she studied nursing at Beth Israel Teaching Hospital in Boston. She worked for several years as a Registered Nurse, and soon married her first husband John P. Best Jr. of Wakefield, MA in 1962, having two sons together. In 1980, she adopted her first dog – a Dachshund puppy named Dudley – and began taking college classes at night, eventually earning a Master’s Degree in Business Management in 1985.
Five years later, she married her second husband, Edward Troy of Charleston, Massachusetts. They both loved to travel, and he was an avid golfer, which is how they first discovered the Myrtle Beach vacation community in South Carolina. Edward succumbed to cancer in the early 2000`s, and shortly thereafter Boston-area winters finally convinced Charlotte to move full-time to the Myrtle Beach.
While enjoying walks on the beach with her two dogs, she met many vacationing families who missed their pets left back at home, which inspired her to start a "bed and breakfast" for dogs so that both people and pets could vacation together as a family. In 2003, Benji`s Bed and Breakfast opened in the Myrtle Beach area, and Charlotte showed up for work there nearly every day since. She is survived by her two sons, Gary and Scott Best, their wives, and five beloved grandchildren.
A memorial graveside service will be held on Saturday, March 12th, at the Woodbrook Cemetery, 100 Salem St., Woburn, at 11 a.m. Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend. There will be Funeral Home Attendants inside the main entrance of the cemetery to guide people in the right direction to the gravesite. Arrangements by the McLaughlin - Dello Russo Family Funeral Service of Woburn.