Inka Aronson Benton (1918–2015): Polymath and Activist
by Kay Noguchi
Inka was born in Warsaw, Poland, and her parents divorced when she was an infant. Her father traveled the world and eventually settled in London. Her mother married an Italian aristocrat and moved to Italy.
Inka met the love of her life, Hale Benton, at a summer resort in Italy when she was 14 and he was 17. Hale was born in Rome, where his father was the business manager for the American Academy. The Bentons returned to the U.S. for Hale’s college years.
In the early months of WWII, with help from relatives, Inka was able to leave Warsaw where she was living with her grandmother. She got out of Europe on the last ship from Genoa, Italy, to New York City in June 1940. Hale’s mother arranged for her to leave Ellis Island and stay with her in Greenwich Village.
Inka and Hale married in 1941, and he went off to the war in Europe as a translator. During the war years, Inka earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Smith College. She worked as a designer for Steuben Glass and in a New York architectural firm. She was the only woman accepted with eleven men to Harvard University’s 1945–46 master class in architecture, led by Walter Gropius.
When the war ended for Hale, Inka had three months left at Harvard. Not to distract her, Hale traveled to California and Mexico, forming a deep attachment to both places.
After Inka’s graduation, she and Hale drove out to California on a road trip with his mother and two sisters. Their destination was a cabin owned by a friend, in San Rafael on an unpaved road with no running water or electricity. The young couple decided to stay in California and bought the old place. Inka’s architectural skills were put to good use transforming their home in the Bret Harte neighborhood of San Rafael.
She worked in the San Francisco office of architect Ernest Born, and Hale taught foreign languages in San Francisco schools. Inka designed an ingenious camper conversion for a VW bus, which she and Hale built together. They traveled extensively in Mexico and Central America during the 1950s and 60s. She also designed a retreat house in Big Sur that they built with the help of architect friends. Hale died in 1967, and Inka never remarried.
She continued to work until 1974, and devoted much time to anti-war, social, and environmental activism. She was a member of the International Relations committee for the Marin League of Women Voters for many years.
Inka served on the board of the Marin Conservation League from 1960 to 1973. It was a time of continued post-WWII development activity in Marin County. Inka was active in the gradual transition in the 1960s toward saving of West Marin from massive development. In 1973, when the Environmental Forum of Marin was founded, Inka joined the first class as a charter member, and for many years thereafter she continued to attend special events of the Forum. She also pursued her environmental passion in the Unitarian Universalist Association. In 2010, she received the Marin Conservation League’s annual Green Award for her longtime activism.
Inka was an avid foreign traveler, sharing her adventures with several different friends, often for six to eight weeks at a time. Inka’s speaking ability in five languages was a great boon to these adventures. Inka went to Iran in 1974–76 as a Peace Corps volunteer working on town planning. In 1992, she was a delegate to the Rio conference, the U.N.’s first World Summit on climate change.
Inka was a gifted photographer and an inquisitive traveler. She shared her wisdom and world adventures through travel slide shows at the San Rafael Library and at Aldersly Retirement Community, where she lived after selling her Bret Harte home in 2002.
In 2008 she hosted a large gathering of friends at the Unitarian Fellowship in Terra Linda, where she was a member and dedicated social activist, to celebrate her 90th birthday. As one of her closest friends noted that day, “Inka has had a huge life for such a tiny person.” She leaves behind many friends and acquaintances, all of whom were enriched by knowing her.
Originally published at https://annetkent.kontribune.com.
