Deborah Ann Benton

Deborah Ann (Oman) Benton, 74, of Fremont, OH passed away peacefully on August 24, 2026, surrounded by her loving family at ProMedica Toledo Hospital. She was born on December 2, 1951, at Travis Air Force Base in Bakersfield, CA the daughter of James and Joanne (Flahiff) Oman. She graduated from Fremont Ross High School in 1970. On April 24, 1971, she married the love of her life, Michael Benton, beginning a life together built around love, family, and the home they created. Now, after being apart, she is home with him again.

She worked at Birchard Public Library for twenty-nine years until she retired in 2016, a fitting place for someone who found such pleasure in a good book. Some of her happiest moments were also the simplest ones—working in her garden, sitting on the patio reading with her beloved dog Princess nearby, and enjoying a glass of peach wine.

She endured a long journey with illness, carrying far more pain and worry than she allowed the people around her to see. Even through the hardest days, she so often met those she loved with a smile, protecting them from the weight of what she was going through. That quiet strength was simply part of who she was.

Above all else, she was a wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Her family was her entire world, and there was nowhere she would rather be than surrounded by the people she loved. She was the proud mother of four children: Christine (Toby) Parish, David (Gerri) Benton, Eric Benton and Nichole (Ryan) Upton. Her family continued to grow with 11 grandchildren whom she adored: Aisha Benton; Bryce, Brad, and Blake Parish; Chelsey, Macy, Lily, Miley, and Kailey Benton; and Mariah and Logan Upton; and five great-grandchildren who brought her tremendous joy: Audrey, Natalee, and Elizabeth Tompkins, and Mila and Myles Sims. She is also survived by her mother, Joanne Oman; siblings, Jeff (Linda) Oman, Sheryl (Joseph) Watts, Lori Bloom and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Michael Benton of fifty-four years; father, James Oman; father and mother-in-law, Wilbur and Shirley Benton; brother, Mike Oman; and sister, Karen Charles.

While those who loved her would have given anything for more time, there is comfort in knowing that after all she endured, she is finally at peace—and reunited with the love of her life. Her family will carry her with them in the gardens that bloom, in the pages of a good book, in quiet afternoons on the patio, and in every gathering where there will forever be someone deeply missed.

The family would like to extend their deepest appreciation to the Heart and Vascular Unit at ProMedica Toledo Hospital for their empathy and compassion.

Visitation will take place on Monday, August 31, 2026 from 10 am to 12 pm at Wonderly Horvath Hanes Funeral Home and Crematory, 425 E State St., Fremont, OH. A funeral service will follow at 12 pm at the funeral home.

Burial will follow at St. Joseph Cemetery, Fremont, OH.

Memorials can be made in her honor to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.