Maralin Payne Bennett, 92, passed away on February 6, 2021. She met her future husband, ElDean Bennett, in Salt Lake City at Granite High School where both of them were in the Debate Club. Their dates were going to the city library to study for their debate topic. When they graduated, both attended BYU, but Maralin soon went to work to support ElDean. They were married in the Salt Lake City Temple in 1947. After ElDean’s graduation, they lived in Salt Lake City, where he worked for KSL Radio and TV, doing news, and becoming known as the "Voice of the Cougars" as he did play-by-play for the BYU sports teams for many years. In 1965, they decided to pursue an opportunity at a radio station in Boston. Not long after that ElDean decided to go back to school for a masters and doctoral degree in Lansing, Michigan.



In 1970, they moved to Tempe, Arizona where ElDean began teaching at ASU. Bennett took over as chair of the journalism program in 1979, when it changed its name to the Journalism and Telecommunications Department and became part of the newly-formed College of Public Programs. Under Bennett’s leadership, in 1984 the journalism department was elevated to a school and became the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Telecommunication. Bennett continued at ASU for over 25 years. He retired as Professor Emeritus of Journalism and Telecommunication.



Maralin was active all her life in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served in many callings in the church. She spent a huge amount of time caring for one of their daughters who had cystic fibrosis and passed away in 1975. She also cared for her own father and her mother-in-law, as they reached the end of their lives. Her husband, ElDean, required constant care during his last years before he passed away in 2001. After his passing, she served a mission in the Tulsa Oklahoma mission. In 2018, she left her home in Arizona to move in with her daughter in Sandy, Utah.

Maralin is survived by one brother, five children, 17 grandchildren, 55 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild. She was preceded in death by her husband, ElDean, a daughter, two sisters and three brothers. There will be a private service for her immediate family to honor her life. (Source: Arizona Republic and ASU website)