Marilyn Elaine Bennett

Marilyn Elaine MacLafferty-Bennett

Marilyn Elaine MacLafferty was born at the Portland Adventist Sanitarium and Hospital in Portland, Oregon, on October 27, 1941, while her father Gordon and mother Phyllis were pastoring the nearby Woodland, Washington, Seventh-day Adventist Church. At the age of two Marilyn and her family moved to Hawaii, where her father pastored several multinational churches for the next 12 years. Due to her father’s poor health, the family moved back to the United States and settled at Keene, Texas, for the next six years. Marilyn met Harry Bennett in the summer of 1959 when he returned from selling religious books in Virginia. His parents had recently moved back from being missionaries in Africa, and his father was Dean of Men at Southwestern Junior College. When Harry arrived in town, Marilyn was working in the boys dorm as a secretary for Harry’s father.

Over the next five years their friendship grew, and they were married in San Jose, California, on August 16,1964. They had both attended Southwestern Junior College (now Southwestern Adventist University) and Union College (now Union Adventist University). Marilyn graduated from Union College with a bachelor’s degree in Home Economics and Business Education. Marilyn worked that first year of their marriage as a secretary to two seminary professors, while Harry continued his education, pursuing a Master of Arts in Music Education at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Marilyn and Harry joined the faculty at a brand new Christian boarding school in Georgia, Georgia Cumberland Academy, where they worked as music teachers for three years. 

The Adventist mission board then invited them to work in Brazil for the next 14 years. During those years in Brazil two children were born. Upon returning to the United States, the only job they found was at San Diego Academy where Harry was band director for 12 years and Marilyn supplemented the family income by teaching piano in their home. 

Marilyn loved playing the pipe organ at Paradise Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church, where she was an organist for over 40 years. In the summer of 2024, Marilyn developed severe pain from compression fractures resulting from osteoporosis. In spite of the efforts of the medical profession, she was in pain and continued to decline until her death on November 9, 2025.

She is survived by her husband Harry, older brother Merritt, two children Brad and Bonnie, and five grandchildren. A celebration of her life will be held at Paradise Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church, 2701 E. 8th St., National City, CA 91950 at 4 PM on January 24, 2026.