Delores Delorita Bennett

Delores was born in Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies to Robert Ernest Miller and Agatha Christie-Miller on January 12, 1933. Delores was born into a vibrant loving committed Christian home, and accepted Christ as her savior at an early age. She attended school in Jamaica at Excelsior High School and graduated after passing the Senior Cambridge Exam. She married Fredrick Bennett while in Jamaica, and to this union was added their son Paul Ivanhoe St. Elmo Bennett (that name was Fred’s and Delores’ idea).

Her career began after graduation from Excelsior at Jamaica’s Government Savings Bank, where she swiftly rose through the ranks and was elevated to civil service headed to foreign soil. Delores migrated from Jamaica, with her young son Paul, to London, England where she was stationed at The Jamaican High Commission. After four years in London, Delores relocated to The United States of America, where she served at The Consulate General of Jamaica, and was promoted to Vice-Council General.

When Jamaica wanted to recall her back home for continued service, Delores made the ultimate sacrifice and took a leap of faith. She resigned from Jamaican Civil Service, ultimately wanting the best opportunities that life in the United States would afford her son. Life was hard, but GOD was good to Delores. God’s Grace kept her where her faith had led her. Her siblings Pearl Garrick and Venroy Miller, who had preceded her to America, remained constant sources of love and support. The siblings her son never had would now be her nieces Carol Miller, Pat Miller (deceased), and Marcia miller, and her nephews Adrian Garrick, Robert Garrick, Richard Garrick, and Robert Miller. Her Bronx Baptist Church family in New York provided guidance, life-long friendships, love, support, and additional watchful eyes for her rambunctious son, until he also followed his mother’s example by following Christ Jesus.

Delores served as a role model for her son. Never one to toot her own horn, Delores went back to school attending Baruch College while her son Paul was attending Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, and she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management, graduating Magna cum laude in 1978. All this was done while she was still working full time at the Jamaican Consulate. During this period, Delores’ bed remained strewn with textbooks and college material. Sleep became a preciously scarce commodity. But Delores was propelled by the strength provided by the Lord and her love for her son. This strong example paved the way for Paul’s own educational and career pathway later in life.

Delores was actively involved in several organizations. She was a faithful member of Bronx Baptist Church in the Bronx, New York, where she was a member of the church’s senior choir as well as a Sunday School teacher. When she relocated to Florida, she joined Christway Baptist Church in Miramar, FL. While residing in Florida she sang with various ensembles, including The Miami Oratorio Society. Delores remained vibrantly independent until illness took its toll.

While healthy, Delores was the life of the party. Always the jokester, you would often hear her friends roaring with uncontrollable laughter as they reminisced about some comical event or spur of the moment action.

To her son, she was his ONE-AND-ONLY and he was hers. She was a wonderful single parent acting as both mother in moments of tenderness, of which there were many, and as “father” when a stern hand was the due order. With Paul, it was the due order quite often. She made sure that her son was impeccably well educated and rejoiced to see the day when her dream of him receiving his doctorate was realized.

Delores Bennett is preceded in death by her father Robert Miller (a prolific expositor and eloquent teacher of the Word of God), her mother Agatha Christie-Miller, and her brother Venroy Miller (who also served as a father-figure for her growing son), and her niece Pat Miller.

Delores Bennett is survived by her one-and-only, her son Dr. Paul I. Bennett, daughter-in-law Sheryl Bennett, Grandchildren Paul Wade John Bennett and Ashley Victoria Bennett, nieces Carol Miller and Marcia Miller, nephews Adrian Garrick, Robert Garrick, Richard Garrick, and Robert Miller, and the BEST baby-sister a person could ever hope for, Pearl Garrick.

A viewing will take place from 12:30 – 1:30 PM on Friday July 10, 2026 at Forest Lawn Funeral Home 2401 SW 64th Ave Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33317. Funeral services will be held at 1:30 at the same location with the Rev. Dean Green of CHRISTWAY BAPTIST CHURCH officiating and burial to follow on the same property at conclusion of the funeral services South.

Arrangements are by Forest Lawn Funeral Home.

The family of Delores Bennett would like, first and foremost, to offer praise and thanksgiving to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for blessing us with 93 years of HIS grace, His mercy, His provision, and His tender care during the life of our beloved Delores.

The family of Delores Bennett would also like to extend our most sincere thanks to Lorrain Jordan-Forbes for your tireless efforts in assisting Delores, that included but were not limited to regularly visiting her at the nursing home, shopping for her needs, seeing to her emotional care, taking her to church-related functions and concerts, and constantly communicating with Delores’ out-of-state family members. Lorrain, you have truly been a blessing from God in every sense of the word. Many thanks to Hospice-Nurse Rosemary for your compassionate care and those thoughtful video communications that kept us connected with Delores. Your ability to rekindle Delores’ smile during your interactions with her was priceless. To Pearl Garrick, Delores’ younger sister, you have been a rock of support, both professionally using your lifetime of nursing expertise to make sure that Delores received the best care, and as a beacon of light when you were the first person to notice when Delores’ health had started to deteriorate, and contacted her son so that plans, arrangements, and necessary moves could be initiated. What a wonderful sister you have been to her, and she has been to you. And we are especially thankful for CHRISTWAY Baptist Church’s leadership, membership, and especially, their visitation group who visited Delores. CHRISTWAY offered Delores that agape-love-place of worship, fellowship, and growth in Christ that anyone in need of a church home would do well in looking into for themselves.

In closing, the Bennett family is praying in the STRONG NAME of JESUS for all of Delores Bennett’s family, friends, and well-wishers who are here today as well as those watching virtually, in accord with the Word of God in III John 2, that… “Beloved, we ‘pray’ above all things, you would prosper (have a good life’s journey) and be in health even as your soul (mind, intellect, and emotions) prosper.”

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen.