WILMINGTON — Laurette was born in Binghamton, NY, on November 24, 1947, the only child of Kathryn McCormack & Lawrence Coon. She always enjoyed celebrating her Thanksgiving Weekend birthday with family & friends!
In 1954, Laurette and her parents moved to Syracuse, NY, where she spent her formative years and became a proud graduate of Cherry Road School ‘60, Westhill High School ‘65 and Syracuse University ‘69.
After college, Laurette & her soon-to-be lifelong friend, Nancy (Davis) Allison moved to the Boston area (Watertown, Back Bay, Quincy) where they spent five wonderful years exploring the beauty of New England … from Burlington, VT, to Nantucket, MA!
On March 3, 1973, mutual friends introduced Laurette to Allan Benton, the love of her life! They married on June 22, 1974, in Quincy, MA, and were blessed with a wonderful 51-year marriage and three terrific sons (& daughters-in-law): Jonathan & Caryn (Oriental, NC), Andrew & Leecy (Raleigh, NC), Thomas & Deanna & their sweet little girls, Annabelle & Audrey (Wilmington, NC) … to whom Laurette was delighted to become “Grammy”!
Allan’s job with the National Institutes of Health took them to Gaithersburg, MD, 1975 – 1983, and then to Raleigh, NC, where they bought the very first house a realtor showed them and lived there happily for nearly 40 years … until those sweet little granddaughters inspired them to move to Wilmington, NC!
Laurette’s Raleigh years were filled with wonderful new friends. Laurette may have been born an “only child,” but she found many “chosen sisters” in Raleigh who enriched her life beyond measure. She was a happy “stay-at-home mom,” always delighted to watch her sons & their buddies swim in pools, play on basketball courts, and run on soccer fields all over NC!
Laurette was an employee of the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh for 20 years, 13 of them at the Catholic Community of Saint Francis of Assisi, where she ministered beside her beloved Franciscan friars and their wonderful staff, planning events, preparing the weekly parish Bulletin, and helping hundreds of couples plan their weddings. In 2005, after having helped coordinate the first Franciscan Parish Pilgrimage to Italy, she moved to Cardinal Gibbons High School, where she worked as Event Planner & Volunteer Coordinator until her retirement in 2013.
Laurette was a founding member of Seven Oaks Swim & Tennis Club (1983); the Raleigh Book Babes (1995); The Ramblers’ Explore NC Travel Club (2009); The Sunset Beach Ladies (1996); The CHOW Dinosaur Trivia Team (2011) & The Travel Buddies (2022). After moving to their new home in the Georgetowne neighborhood of Wilmington, Laurette was kindly invited to join a new book club: Georgetowne Ladies Get Lit(erature)!
Laurette loved to travel. In 1999, when an old Boston friend invited her to go on a 12-day bus tour of Italy (Rome, Assisi, Florence, Siena, Venice), she was smitten with that amazing country. She organized 13 more lovely Italian adventures for large and small groups of wonderful friends from all over the U.S. Laurette loved everything about her Italy trips … pre-planning & organizing itineraries, posting blogs while she was there, and creating digital photo albums when she returned home. She did also manage to squeeze in wonderful trips with friends to the Dordogne region of France (2022) & to Great Britain (2024).
Since moving in 2022 to Wilmington, NC, Laurette’s new spiritual home became Saint Cecilia Parish (Boston). She was a proud member of St. Cecilia’s (virtual) Far Flung Flock, “attending” Sunday’s 9:30 AM Mass weekly. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to St. Cecilia Parish, 18 Belvidere St, Boston, MA 02115. Please indicate “Hunger and Homeless Ministry” in the memo line.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Saturday, February 7, 2026, at 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM, at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, 11401 Leesville Road, Raleigh, NC 27613.
