PAULINE DELANEY (JOHNSON) BENTON

Pauline Delaney (Johnson) Benton went to be with the Lord on November 28, 2024. She was 100 years old. Her family is grateful to know that she is now at peace and in the presence of God. 

Pauline was born on June 21, 1924, in Smithville, Oklahoma.  She was the second of three children born to John Perrin Johnson and Josie Rosey Belle Johnson. She remembered going with her mother to church and sleeping under the pew on a quilt. She excelled in school, and her math skills were beneficial throughout her life.  When she was just sixteen, Pauline met and married her lifelong partner, William Joe Benton. He was working at a nearby Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) camp, and they met through friends. Soon after, the couple moved to Tulare, California, with their first child, Joyce, before moving north to Oakland, California.  

In Oakland, while Joe worked in the shipyards building ships for WWII, Pauline cared for their daughter, Joyce, and their second child, Gerald, in a small apartment. On rare nights, they would leave the kids with a neighbor and go to the local dance hall to socialize.  After the war ended in 1945, the young family moved back to Oklahoma to help Joe’s parents maintain the family farm and find other work. They welcomed their third child, Linda, during this time.  As much as they wanted to remain close to their families, no work could be found, so they moved back to Tulare.  

Joe had established relationships in the agricultural industry before the war and was able to begin a long and successful career in farm and dairy management. Soon after, their last child, Gary was born. 

Pauline managed a busy household with four kids and a husband who worked “dairy hours”.She took her jobs as a wife, Mother, homemaker, and family financial manager very seriously, ensuring that the family home was always clean, meals were always homemade, money was frugally appropriated, and her children were well-behaved – or else!   In addition to her homemaking skills, Pauline was a prolific seamstress, quilter, and gardener. She often made dresses for her daughters and granddaughters (and their dolls), donated handmade quilts to various church functions, and even made some good money providing quilts, pillows, and other decor items to country music star, Kenny Rogers!  

A small but formidable woman, Pauline exemplified the work ethic and stoicism so common to her generation that had seen the Great Depression and a world war. What a blessing that whatever sorrows she carried through this life have been traded for the joys of Heaven.   Pauline was preceded in death by her husband, Joe Benton, her daughter, Linda House, and great-great-granddaughter, Aleana Lacey. She is survived by her daughter, Joyce Coffman, sons Gerald Benton and Gary Benton, seven grandchildren, twelve great-grandchildren, and fourteen great-great-grandchildren.
To send condolences or sign the family guest book, please CLICK HERE to send. Peers-Lorentzen Funeral Services is in charge of arrangements.