Obituary of Kathryn Lee Benton Coffey

Kathryn Lee Benton Coffey, 98, died at home in Fort Worth, on Friday, February 9, 2018.She gave her lifetime to the art of home-making, creating a reliable place of love and support for her family and extending her love and care to friends and countless others. When told recently she had earned the care she was receiving from others through her own caregiving for so many, she replied, “That’s what we’re here for, isn’t it?”Born in Murchison, July 31, 1919, to Reuben and Johnnie Browning Lee, she and her mother moved near San Angelo and lived in that area until she married James Hamilton Benton in 1940. After graduation from San Angelo High School she received a scholarship to San Angelo Junior College. There she met James Hamilton Benton, and after he moved to Galveston for medical school, they were married in San Antonio in 1940. She joined him in Galveston through his internship and residency in neuro-psychiatry. Daughter Carolyn Waund was born there in 1942.In 1946, Dr. Benton opened his practice in Fort Worth where son Jim was born in 1948. After Dr. Benton’s death in 1950, Kathryn met and wed John S. Coffey, Jr. in 1954, remaining in Fort Worth where children Mary Ann Levy and John Daniel Coffey were born. They were longtime members of Broadway Baptist Church.In 1978, Mr. Coffey retired and the couple moved to Commerce to live until his death in 2000 in a rustic home he built by hand. Returning to Fort Worth, she attended Central Christian.A music lover and violinist herself, Kathryn’s progeny have shared her interest. She faithfully attended their many performances well into her ninth decade and proudly celebrated their athletic and academic achievements. Her children and grandchildren have accumulated 16 bachelor’s degrees, nine master’s degrees, a J.D., an L.L.M., and a PhD. Eleven are educators.She is survived by four children, Carolyn Waund, Jim and wife, Carolyn Benton, Mary Ann and husband, David Levy, John Dan and wife, Michelle Coffey; seven grandchildren, Steve Benton and wife, Maria Jose Ruiz Blanco; Lisa and wife, Melissa Benton-Nielsen; Brian and wife, Lyndsae Benton, Lee and husband, Jesus Alvarez-Adame; Laura and husband, Omar Garcia, John Stephen Coffey, and C. J. Levy; seven great-grandchildren, Olivia Benton, Victoria Miller, Emilio, Pablo, and Nina Benton, Norah Benton-Nielsen, and Jessi Alvarez-Adame; and sister, Nelda Wilbanks.