Mary Benear

Mary Elizabeth Benear was born to Pearl and Ralph Carsten on October 26, 1934, in the home that her father built, next door to Bruner Cash Market, on the Sand Springs line. Mary and her three sisters loved life as youngsters, helping the delivery boys load groceries to be delivered from their market. Her father was minister at Olivet Baptist Church, and was always seated on the front pew, therefore the reason Mary knew every word and verse of the gospel music.
She attended Sand Springs public schools, and as a teenager acquired her first job as a carhop on roller skates. After she started a family, she was hired as head cashier at the first Dillons food store in Wichita, Kansas. In 1968 she relocated to Meade, Kansas, where she married Donald Benear, sharing 51 years of a totally love filled marriage and family life.
Mary enjoyed her occupation as head cook for the Meade District school system, where nutrition and "plenty of food" for the children she served, were of utmost importance. She loved her family more than life; they always brought a smile to her face and laughter into her heart.
She enjoyed making quilts by hand, working TV crossword puzzles, playing family board games, reading, putting puzzles together, and being at the lake with her husband and boys.
Mary was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, three sisters: Sarah Ellen Pullin, Barbara Sue Dickens, and Sadie jo Hooper. Two nieces; Debra Jane Hooper, and Joanna Whisenhunt. Two nephews; Steve Dickens, and Billy Don Pullin.
She is survived by her daughter, Susan, and Rick Bowren of Tulsa. Four sons; William Tipton Evans and Kristy Dethample of Derby, Kansas, Kelly and Nancy Benear of Fayetteville, North Carolina, James and Tammy Benear of Moore, and Timothy and Yondi Benear of Sand Springs. Fifteen grandchildren; Tiffanie Riggs, Rhoda Smith, Kelli Lancaster, Tipton Evans, Billy Evans, Erika Evans, Gabriel Evans, Amber Evans, Sarah Benear, Emily Benear, Katelyn Benear, Brandon Benear, Desarae Benear, Shaylynn Benear, and Ali Benear. Twenty-five great grandchildren, five great- great grandchildren, eighteen great nephews and nieces, and thirty-two great-great nephews and nieces.
Funeral Services will be held at 2:00 pm on Tuesday, October 4, 2022, at Legacy Chapel- Woodland Memorial Park in Sand Springs. Interment will follow at Woodland Memorial Park Cemetery. Services are under the direction of Dillon Funeral Service, and condolences may be shared at www.dilloncares@gmail.com