Ermadean Bennett

Erma Dean Bennett (Bondie), 86, of Trenton, Michigan, passed away peacefully on October 22, 2026, at Henry Ford Wyandotte, surrounded by her family.

Erma Dean was born on August 15, 1940, at her childhood home in Flat Rock, Michigan, to Harold Bondie Jr and Reba Bondie (Bird). Erma entered this world to the sound of music; her Dad was playing the fiddle in the next room.

Erma Dean spent her childhood surrounded by family, including her Great Grandma and Grandpa Bondie, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins. She used to joke that they should have called the street Bondie Road instead of Joyce Road. Her childhood years were full of family picnics, ice skating on the pond by her house, and movie night with popcorn and Pepsi at Aunt Mar's and Uncle Russ's. Erma Dean attended elementary and middle school at Maple Grove School in Flat Rock, where she excelled as an outstanding student. Erma Dean attended Trenton High School, and had many fond memories of Friday night football games, being in the choir, and catching a movie at the Trenton Theater.

After graduation, Erma Dean traveled to the South where she met her first husband and welcomed a daughter Jeanne in 1961. Unfortunately, the couple was very young and the marriage came to an end. Erma Dean returned to Michigan and was a single Mom until she met the love of her life, Garry Bennett, in 1966. They were inseparable from the time they first met and were married for 54 years until Garry passed in 2019 from leukemia.

Erma Dean was known for her kindness, sweetness, and quiet strength. She had a strong faith in God and was of the Protestant faith. She was a woman of many interests and hobbies, including poetry, nature, history, and all things about butterflies and cardinals. Erma Dean took great pride in a poetry book "Butterflies are Free" being published with a collection of her favorite poems.

Erma Dean was known to include a butterfly poem in a birthday card for her family, and these are cherished memories for her daughter and grandchildren.

Erma Dean took great pride in being a Mom and Grandma, and she loved to go to her grandson and granddaughter's school games as well as school events.

Erma Dean was very humble, but throughout the years she rescued and found loving homes for many kittens and cats. She was also known to rescue a stray dog. Her own fur babies over the years received excellent care and she cherished the times with them.

Erma Dean took great pride in being a wife, mother, and grandma, but she also did work outside the home at Riverside Hospital's Housekeeping and was known as one of the "pink ladies" back in the early 1970's.

Erma Dean stayed sweet and kind during her illness and maintained her sweet nature even when she was in the ICU at Henry Ford Wyandotte. She was loved by the nurses, and Erma's family will be forever grateful for the staff's kindness during a very difficult time.

Erma Dean is preceded in death by her husband Garry Bennett and parents Harold and Reba Bondie. She is survived by her daughter Jeanne Wallace (Glen) and grandchildren Ashlyn Wallace, Patrick Wallace, and Leah Cunningham (Sean), as well as three great-grandsons Shamus, Desmond, and Tadhg.

Erma Dean's family knows that she is free like the butterflies she loved and wrote about in poems, and has been reunited with her husband Garry, the love of her life.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to St. Jude's or T.A.I.L.S Cat Rescue of Grosse Ile, Michigan.

Visitation will take place at The Trenton Chapel of The Martenson Family of Funeral Homes Sunday, November 1, from 2:00 pm until 8:00 pm. The funeral service will be held at the funeral home on Monday, November 2, at 11:00 am.