Reba Goodroe Benton

Reba Goodroe Benton, 92, of Leesburg, GA died Wednesday, July 26, 2023 at Willson Hospice House. Funeral services will be conducted Sunday, July 30, 2023 at 3:00 pm at Mathews Funeral Home. Interment will follow in Union Baptist Church Cemetery.  Mr. Ross Powell officiate.

Ms. Benton, who leaves behind a legacy of Christian faith, devotion to family, and service to her church and country, was born Oct. 9, 1930, in Doerun, to the late Aaron Turner Goodroe and Sarah Matilda McCorkle Goodroe. The Goodroes farmed and raised their family, which also included Ms. Benton’s four brothers, the late Joseph Turner Goodroe (the late Evelyn Goodroe), the late Walter Hubert Goodroe (the late Iva Goodroe), the late James Buford Goodroe, and the late Carlos Goodroe (Lois) of Doerun.

After graduating from Sylvester High School, she attended Business School in Albany. She then served as deputy clerk of both the City Court of Sylvester and Superior Court of Worth County, which then fell under the Tift County Judicial Circuit, for five years, before enlisting in the U.S. Navy for active service in August 1954. She was assigned to the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., until she was honorably discharged at the rank of Yeoman, Third Class, in August 1956. During her service, she was awarded a national defense service medal. She married (the late) Harold Norman Benton in August 1956 in Alexandria, VA, and lived in Birmingham, AL, Mobile, AL, and Atlanta during their marriage, until they divorced in March 1963. They had one son, Harold Norman Benton, Jr.

Ms. Benton began working in Civil Service at the Air Force Reserve at Squadron Bates Field in Mobile, AL, recording logged flying hours, as well as in procurement, before she and her son returned to Albany, where she worked for the American Red Cross at then-Turner Air Force Base. There she worked in Supply, then for Auditor General for the resident auditor. At Turner AFB, she transferred to the Naval Department, working in Payroll, before transferring to the Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany, where she worked in the Repair Division and later as a budget clerk. She retired on disability from Civil Service in January 1975 due to hearing loss.

Ms. Benton has been following Christ since she was 16 years old, when she received salvation while attending Union Baptist Church in Doerun. Around 1970, she united with Mercedes Baptist Church in Albany, left and attended and taught Sunday School at Liberty Baptist Church in Albany for about six years, before returning to Mercedes, where she was employed as church secretary for five years. Over her years of service as a faithful member of Mercedes, she taught Sunday School, discipleship training, home mission and women’s Bible studies, Vacation Bible School, and served on various committees.

She enjoyed many outdoor activities, including walking and observing nature, as well as loved participating in church activities with other members, watching her son’s, grandson’s and great-grandchildren’s activities, and reading.

Survivors include her children: Son Harold Benton (Valerie), of Leesburg; grandsons Jacob Benton (Paige), of Orlando, FL, and Benjamin “Ben” Turner (Angela), of Denver, CO; and great-grandchildren Samuel Harold “Sam” Benton and Thomas Turner “Tom” Benton, of Orlando, Space Force Guardian Spc 3 Dillon Turner, of Colorado Springs, CO, and Emma Grace Turner-Thompson, of Tifton.

The family will receive friends Sunday from 2:00 pm until 3:00 pm at Mathews Funeral Home.

In lieu of flowers, she has requested that memorials be sent to: Mercedes Baptist Church, 2623 Moultrie Road, Albany, GA 31705 (Phone: 229-946-0918).