Patricia (Dyer) Bennett, wife of Richard E. Bennett, passed away in her 80th year in Orem, Utah on Saturday morning 21 March, the first day of Spring. She had been declining from non-alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver for the past several years. Her family extends their heartfelt thanks to the doctors and nursing staffs at both the Timpanogos (Orem) hospital and the Stonehenge of Orem Rehab Center for their kind, professional, and genuine loving care during her final weeks.

Born 23 September 1945 in American Fork, Utah, Pat was the oldest of eight children of the late Robert M. Dyer and Mildred Louise Richards – Patricia, Deanna (Hartvigsen), Judith (Barker), Louise (Elliott), Susan (Petersen), Colinda (Elieson), Robert M. Dyer, Jr., and Richard Collins Dyer. She grew up in a safe and loving home environment in Holladay, Utah before attending Olympus High School in Salt Lake City. In 1968 she graduated from the University of Utah with bachelor’s degrees in Home Economics and Child Development. On 11 September 1970 she married Richard E. Bennett in the Salt Lake Temple. In the course of time “Dick and Pat” were blessed with five children – Catherine (Jon Chisholm), Richard (Kimberly Adamson), Rebecca, Rachael (Jared West), and David (Alexandria Navratil) - 34 grandchildren including spouses, and 12 great grandchildren, with three more on the way.

A devoted wife and loving mother, after their marriage Pat and Dick moved to Detroit, Michigan where Dick attended graduate school. Later she braved the colds of central Canada where she and Dick lived for twenty years in Winnipeg, Manitoba. There they raised their young family under the shimmering northern lights of the vast expanses of the great Canadian prairies. They made dear friends there that have lasted a lifetime. The Bennett family returned to live in Orem, Utah in 1997 when Dick accepted a professorship in LDS Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University. As interested in the study of Church History as her life’s partner, Pat was happy to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as mission leaders at the Mormon Trail Center in Omaha, Nebraska (Winter Quarters) from 2021-2023. Blessed with a deep and abiding testimony of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and with an unbending faith in our Saviour, while serving in Nebraska she once again reaped a tremendous harvest of new-found friends and associates.

With an easy, charming smile and caring disposition, Pat loved others unconditionally. She was a remarkable homemaker, decorator, and gifted storyteller who loved singing, music, crafts (cross-stitching and card-making in particular), cooking, the theater, canning grape juice and watching good movies. Of all her many church callings, she probably most enjoyed promoting ladybug picnic Activity Days with her 5 and 6-year-old neighborhood children. She also enjoyed years of hosting ‘grandma days’ with her many granddaughters. Blessed also with a quick mind and deep understanding of the scriptures, she was equally comfortable participating with her husband in vigorous interfaith dialogues over the past 20 years with hundreds of LDS/Evangelical friends from all across the country.

But if she had a weakness, it was her celebration of Christmas when she marshalled the energy of the entire family in decorating not one, not even two, but a grand total of eight Christmas trees which she carefully placed in various rooms all over the house. Above all, come rain or shine, whether here or there, in season and out, she loved her family and has left for them a legacy of enduring love and affection, the ever-devoted wife and mother who always kept the home lights burning. In the words of Shakespeare, “For thy sweet love remembered, such wealth brings, that then I scorn to change my state with kings.”

Pat’s funeral will be held at noon on Saturday, 28 March 2026 at the Sharon Third Ward LDS Chapel at 700 East 430 South in Orem, Utah. A viewing will be held Friday night 27 March from 6-8 p.m. at the Walker-Sanderson Funeral Home at 646 East 800 North, Orem and again at the Sharon Third Ward chapel from 10:00-11:30 a.m. just prior to the funeral service. Interment will be in the Provo City Cemetery.

‘Good night, Princess. I’ll see you in the morning.’