Mary Elizabeth Bennett

Mary Elizabeth McCauley Bennett entered the gates of Heaven on Tuesday, August 11, 2026 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She entered this world fighting and left the same way. Mary was born March 17, 1934 in rural Rison, Arkansas, to a family that immigrated from Ireland in 1774 in a whiskey barrel on a ship from Ireland. After a descendent made his way to Arkansas from North Carolina, where he settled and had a family, the family grew and spread from there. Mary graduated Rison High School in 1952, then at 19 left Rison and attended Capital City secretarial college in Little Rock where she thrived. She met the love of her life,

E. B. “Buster” Bennett when he came to pick up her roommate for a blind date in December of 1956. The blind date fizzled, Buster and Mary clicked, and were inseparable for the next six months. It culminated in a small wedding on June 7th, 1957. During this time Mary was a secretary for Walthor-Flake Company, a real estate development company.

Once they started having children, the couple moved to Memphis for five years. Mary raised three children and kept books for her husband during this time. They moved back to Little Rock in 1969 where they stayed the rest of their lives. While Buster worked, Mary brought up children and handled the accounting for Buster’s company, Enterprise Tools, Inc. When the youngest child was in grade school, Mary went to work for the Pulaski County Special School District in the purchasing department where she worked for the district at the main office, and for one year at Cloverdale Junior High until her retirement in July,1997. During retirement, Mary helped her mother, visited family, and became active in the Ladies’ Auxiliary at Landmark Missionary Baptist Church. She had been a member since she married Buster in 1957. Until Alzheimer’s hit, Mary was a dedicated church member, an active family member, and she had various interests, including birdwatching. When she entered Memory Care at Brookdale Chenal, she staged a takeover. Within two weeks, they had nicknamed her “The BOSS.” Mary was trying to help the other patients and tell the staff how to do their jobs. They came to love her and took excellent care of her during the hardest season of her life.

Mary is survived by her daughters, Cynthia Waldron (William), Kimberly Lawhon, and son, E. B. “Chip” Bennett, Jr. (Renee MacArthur); her sister-in-law, Donna S. McCauley, and cousin, Dollie McCauley Tucker, and a multitude of Bennett in-laws. She is also survived by seven grandchildren: Michael (Amber) Waldron, Andrew Waldron, Joanna Waldron, Christian Appling, Jeremy Lawhon (Elizabeth), Cassandra Gibbons, Sarah Armstrong (Scott) and fifteen great-grandchildren along with a hoard of nieces and nephews. 

She was predeceased by her beloved husband, E.B. “Buster” Bennett; her parents: Sarah Myers McCauley and William E. McCauley; her brothers, Talley McCauley, and S. E. McCauley; and sister, Virginia McCauley Thompson.

A Celebration of Life/Memorial will be on September 12, 2026 at 10:00 am at Landmark Missionary Baptist Church and Cemetery on Arch St. Pike. A graveside service will follow, weather permitting. In lieu of flowers the family requests you make a donation to Landmark Missionary Baptist Church, the Alzheimer's Association , or to the charity of your choice.