Barbara Sue (DeLong) Benjamin, 65, of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, quietly passed away in her home on Wednesday, October 25, 2017 after a long and hard-fought battle with cancer. She was born on May 1, 1952 in Wabash, Indiana, to Alvis Herbert “Herb” DeLong and Mintie Pearl (Smith) DeLong.
Barbara, or Sue as she preferred to be called, graduated from Wabash High School in 1970 and later attended classes at Indiana University while living in Indianapolis. Sue moved several times over the course of her life, from Indiana to Illinois to Ohio, back to Indiana and then eventually to Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where she has lived since 1984 – but no matter where she moved, Wabash was always the place she called home. Family and friends were particularly important in Sue’s life, so she returned to her hometown as often as she could. There, in the very same house she grew up in, she was welcomed by her mother, her four siblings and her many nieces and nephews along with their own growing families. In the early years, Sue was a devoted homemaker, caring for and raising her three sons with the same solid midwestern values that she had learned from her own upbringing. By the mid-1980s, Sue also had a professional life. She was a legal secretary and office manager at the law offices of Deneweth, Dugan & Parfitt, P.C., in Troy, Michigan, and had only recently retired after more than 30 years of service. The kind and generous people that she worked alongside became more than just co-workers and acquaintances to Sue – she counted them among some of her nearest and dearest friends. Sue attended the First United Methodist Church of Birmingham and she found great comfort in her faith – a faith that became even more significant to her as time passed. Whether you knew Sue as a friend, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a mother or a grandmother (she was all of those, and more), she’ll be remembered as a strong and independent woman who had immeasurable love for family and friends, an unbreakable spirit and a passion for jewelry. Your time with us was far too short – we’ll miss you every single day.
She is survived by her mother, Mintie Pearl DeLong of Wabash, Indiana, her three sons, Scott (Kim) Benjamin of Roswell, Georgia, Mike (Molly) Benjamin and Rob Benjamin, all of White Lake, Illinois, four grandchildren, Maggie Benjamin of Roswell, Grant Benjamin, Claire Benjamin, and Carson Benjamin, all of White Lake, her siblings, Brenda (Harvey) Coble of Wabash, Lynne (Joe) Getz of LaFontaine, Indiana, Jim (Linda) DeLong of Wabash, and Libby (Joe) Cook of Lagro, Indiana. She was preceded in death by her father on December 4, 1976.
Funeral Services will be 12 pm, Saturday, October 28, 2017 at A.J. Desmond & Sons Funeral Home, 32515 Woodward Avenue, Royal Oak, Michigan with Rev. Renee Machiniak officiating. Friends may call
10 – noon. A second visitation period will be
10 – noon, Monday, October 30, at Grandstaff-Hentgen Funeral Service, 1241 Manchester Avenue, Wabash. Graveside services willl be
12:30 pm,
Monday at Falls Cemetery, Wabash, with Rev. John Cook officiating.
Preferred memorials are The Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute (
www.karmanos.org) or The International Myeloma Foundation
www.myeloma.org).
The memorial guest book for Sue may be signed at
www.grandstaff-hentgen.com.
