Molly Mae Benjamin died unexpectedly at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis on Feb. 1, 2024. The cause of death was liver failure. She was 52.

The daughter of fisherman and writer Bonnie “Benjy” Benjamin and Roger Doriss, her mother’s former landscaping business partner, Molly was born on Nov. 8, 1971 “in a cabin in the mountains above Boulder, Colo.,” according to her uncle, Randy Benjamin.

“My sister lived up there by Duck Lake,” Randy added, “near the old mining town of Ward. She was ‘off the grid’ before the term was invented.” In 1973 Benji moved with Molly to Provincetown, where Benji became a local legend, famous for the black patch she wore after losing an eye in a fishing accident.

“Molly grew up in that whirlwind cyclonic full-out force that emanated from Benji,” friends wrote in an online tribute. “It wasn’t easy, but Molly was Benji’s daughter, and she was resilient, sensitive, and funny, and a loving and loyal friend to many.”

Molly graduated in 1989 from Provincetown High School, where she was elected class president while making the honor roll in each of her four years, managing a couple of sports teams, and serving as an editor of the yearbook.

She was also selected as the “most ambitious” and as the “class fisherman.”

She earned a bachelor’s degree in marine biology at the University of Vermont in 1993. Wanting adventure, Molly moved to California where she lived for several years, visiting her mother and friends on the Outer Cape in the summers.

On a visit to Wellfleet in 2002, she reconnected with her high school sweetheart, Scott Carreiro. Their son, Coty, was born in 2004.

Molly managed the Cumberland Farms in Provincetown for a few years and remained in Wellfleet to raise Coty as a single mother. “She was a good mom,” wrote Sue Gillis and Jan Doerler, “who fiercely loved her son and would want him to carry on and to always stand proudly on the shoulders of his legendary grandmother and his feisty loving mother.”

“She had a huge heart full of love and joy,” Molly’s friend Stephanie Peters said. “She had a powerful personality that drew everyone in, and her laugh was one of a kind and could be heard for miles. Molly was as well known in Provincetown as her mom was.”

Molly loved the outdoors. She walked at Beech Forest and spent days at the West End Beach or Herring Cove, and she loved to travel with her son and friends.

According to Stephanie, Molly helped anyone she could. She often said, “It takes a village,” so she would be happy and not surprised to know the community is rallying around her son in his time of grief.

“Molly was a character,” Allison Benjamin wrote in an online tribute. “Tough as nails, yet so shiny! Full of laughter and always a good word.”

She is survived by her son, Coty Carreiro of Provincetown, and her uncle, Randy Benjamin of Boulder, Colo.

Molly was predeceased by her parents, by Coty’s father, Scott Carreiro, and by his parents, Jerry and Joyce Carreiro.

A memorial for Molly will be held on Sunday, March 17 at the Knights of Columbus, 227 Commercial St., Provincetown, from 1 to 4 p.m.

A fund has been established at everloved.com to help pay for funeral costs and medical bills.