Mary Lou BENNINGTON

April 17, 1948 - April 2, 2025

Spokane - We say our goodbyes to Mary Louise "Mary Lou" Bennington, age 76, a light of sweet caring to all who knew her, who departed from us on April 2, 2025. She was brave to the end, always focused on the beauty remaining rather than the losses.

Mary Lou was born in Denver, Colorado, in 1948 to Ed and Betty Ruby, welcomed by older sisters, Elaine and Jeanie. The three older sisters would in turn welcome siblings, Kathleen, Terry, Patti, and brother, John, the youngest. It was a home filled with love: walking to and from Holy Family school, helping with Dad's lawn mowing, Mom's canning and baking bread. She was the responsible one, the witty one, and the first to have a two-piece swimming suit!

She graduated from Colorado State University in 1972 as an occupational therapist. At CSU, she met and married her first love, John Bennington. They soon moved to Moscow, Idaho, where John went to law school and Mary Lou joined Palouse River Counseling. She worked under the mentorship of a core of strong women role models who would eventually see Mary Lou become the Clinical Director of Palouse River Counseling. Mary Lou's growth led to a divorce and the decision to return to school for her MSW degree. She was one of the founders of the Harvest House in Pullman, inspired by her visit to Fountain House in New York. Her kindness and caring were a timely match for the latter years of deinstitutionalization of mentally ill patients from the state hospitals back to the community. Mary Lou saw the best in others, clients and staff, and was able to come alongside people to help them realize their best selves.

Her adventurous spirit found expansion in rafting the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon (swimming the pools of Havasu Falls), backpacking the Westcoast Trail, camping on the Lochsa - Selway - Clearwater rivers, designing her sunroom, and landscaping her backyard. Through all this was her dear therapist, Kent, and the next two loves of her life, Dylan (springer spaniel) and Henry (silver toy poodle).

Frustrations over the changes in her neighborhood (College Hill), hopes for finding love, again, and the encouragement of Bruce and Linda led her to move to Spokane in 2003. Soon, she was a Zags season ticket holder and a social worker on the inpatient psychiatric unit at the Spokane VA Medical Center. There, and at St. Al's, she made a new community of friends including her coworker, Bill Brown. Several years of friendship with Bill evolved into him becoming the great love of her life. Theirs was a love of deep caring and respect that grew year after year. With this love, they made a garden, adventured in the stillness of the redwoods, fought the good fight at the VA, retired, read and wrote poetry, and danced their way through the weddings of nieces and nephews.

Mary Lou is survived by her partner, Bill, and Bill's daughter, Zoe; siblings, Elaine O'Brien (Tom), Kathleen Carelli (Rory), Terry Ruby, Patti Nichols (Jeff), and John Ruby (Elisa); 11 very dear nieces and nephews; and much-loved friends and neighbors. Memorial to be held at Manito United Methodist Church, 3220 S. Grand Blvd., Spokane, WA, on April 17, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. A Celebration of Life will be in Denver at a future date.

And did you get what you wanted from this life, even so?

I did.

And what did you want?

To call myself beloved, to feel myself

beloved on the earth.

– Raymond Carver