Elise Bennett Heuser

Elise Bennett Heuser died on October 8th, at the age of 95 at St. Anne's Mead of Southfield Michigan.

Elise was born in Flint Michigan in 1930 to Mildred Everingham Bennett and Dale Leroy Bennett. She and her brother Ben were raised during the Great Depression in Flint by her mother Millie, and grandparents, George and Evie Everingham. Evie, Millie and Elise were all certified Daughters of the American Revolution.

Elise was an avid reader. After graduating from Flint High School, she worked at the local library before graduating from Michigan State College (now MSU) in 1952 with a major in English. She was a proud member of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority. Elise married Helmut Carl Heuser (Moot) in September 1952. They lived in Washington D.C. for the first 2 years of their marriage while Moot served in the US Army Corp of Engineers.

They then moved to Beverly Hills Michigan, and finally to Birmingham Michigan where they raised their family. Elise was very active in the Junior League of Birmingham. She was a writer and editor of the Junior League Magazine and was elected to be their President from 1968-1970. Elise went on to help Robin Bahr and Ginny MacGregor, put on a production of West Side Story at Knudsen Jr High School on the east side of Detroit.

She chaired Suburbia Tomorrow in 1970. In 1985 she served as an inaugural member of the Birmingham Area Cable Board, holding that position for the next 5 years. In 1989 she joined the Board of Directors at Franklin Wright Settlement. Remaining on the Board for several years. In 1991 she received The Spirit of Detroit Award for her work to promote low-income housing in Detroit.

For much of the late 1970's and 1980's Elise and Moot traveled extensively across globe. Often taking time to play a round of golf at some of the most storied courses of the day. One of their most memorable trips to Europe involved taking the QE II Liner to the UK and the Concord back home. At the time, both one of the slowest and fastest ways to cross.

After Moot's passing in 1988, Elise's passion for golf led her to become the first female independent member of Stoneycroft Hills Club. She enjoyed playing golf at Stoney for nearly 2 decades. Elise's other major passion was playing bridge, especially duplicate bridge. This was most often done while she belonged to The Village Club of Bloomfield Hills for over 5 decades. Aside from golf and bridge, she was also an avid football fan of her beloved MSU Spartans and the Detroit Lions. She loved the NYT Sunday crossword puzzle competing weekly with her friends to be the first to finish.

Elise was proceeded by her husband, brother, and countless friends. She is survived by her son Fritz, daughter Betsy, 5 grandchildren, and 1 great grandchild.