Graveside services will be Friday April 24, 2020 at 11:30 AM from the Hebron Presbyterian Cemetery in Banks County, Georgia. The immediate family will be in attendance observing CDC rules governing the Corona Virus Pandemic. Hebron Pastor, Rick Billingslea is in charge of the service.
Obituary notes from Mildred's daughter, Alyson Gondek:
Jane M. Bennett (Mom) born in 1930 at 100 S. Broad St., Commerce, Georgia, grew up in a small southern town during the Great Depression. She grew up with no luxuries, and her family was fortunate just to have enough to eat. Mother's father was an attorney and he was paid by people bringing food items like a chicken or watermelon to his house. They did not have indoor plumbing, but used an outhouse. They were active at the Commerce Presbyterian Church during the Depression. Mother had jobs delivering newspapers and working at the soda fountain in Commerce, Ga. when she was 14 and 15 years old, and basically supporting herself from that time onward, because her father was in hospital in Atlanta with leukemia, and died when she was 15. Her Mother stayed in Atlanta working in a factory, leaving Mother to live in Commerce independently at age 16.
After two years at Georgia State College for Women in Milledgeville, she moved to Atlanta and got a fulltime job working at Emory Medical School at Grady Hospital, and attended night school at the University of Georgia Atlanta division (now Georgia State University). She worked her way through college and graduated in 1953. She became a teacher in high school for three years, two years at Georgia State University, three years working at the State School Superintendents office at the State Department of Education and the rest of her career at DeKalb Community College for a total of 32 years. She loved teaching.
She married in 1959 and had three children. In 1981, she and her husband founded and operated Camp Woodmont, an overnight camp for boys & girls on Lookout Mountain. Their mutual experience as counselors, college teachers, Sunday School teachers, and parents was instrumental in the early success of Camp Woodmont. They touched the lives of thousand s of campers and staff from the Atlanta area and Southeast. She developed the motto for camp. "Be Your Own Self at Your Very Best, Allll the Time," which is still recited every day at camp.
She was an active member of Peachtree Presbyterian Church inAtlanta, Georgia. She enjoyed ballroom dancing, traveling, aerobics, Bible study, scrabble, ping pong and being a grandmother to four grandchildren, from 2005 - 2006, she nursed our Father through cancer, spending days at his bedside at home telling him motivational stories until he died in 2006 - never putting him in hospice or a nursing home. She battled breast cancer at age 78.
She continued to work at the summer camp until age 80 (even with dementia) never slowing down. Eventually, she was overcome with diminishing mental capabilities and increasingly pronounced dementia. She continued living in Atlanta until 2016 when she moved to a long-term care unit in Signal Mountain, Tennessee (near camp Woodmont). She was a resident in a memory care unit, due to her diminishing mental capabilities (Alzheimer's). Even when her mind was totally incompetent, she was a delight to all those around her. The nurses and aides loved her sweet, funny personality. She was a fighter and lover of life; an overall amazing woman who touched the lives of so many. She survived a direct hit by a tornado on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020, with a few cuts and bruises. She passed away in her sleep Monday, April 20, 2020.
An old man going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening cold and gray,
To a chasm vast and deep and wide.
Through which was flowing a sullen tide
The old man crossed in the twilight dim,
The sullen stream had no fear for him;
But he turned when safe on the other side
And built a bridge to span the tide.
"Old man," said a fellow pilgrim near,
"You are wasting your strength with building here,
Your journey will end with the ending day,
You never again will pass this way;
You've crossed the chasm, deep and wide,
Why build this bridge at evening tide?"
The builder lifted his old gray head;
"Good friend, in the path I have come," he said,
"followed after me to-day
A youth whose feet must pass this way,
This chasm that has been naught to me
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;
He too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him!"
"The Bridge Builder" - Will Allen Dromgoole
circa 1931, E.P. Dutton & Company
Obituary notes from Mildred's daughter, Alyson Gondek:
Jane M. Bennett (Mom) born in 1930 at 100 S. Broad St., Commerce, Georgia, grew up in a small southern town during the Great Depression. She grew up with no luxuries, and her family was fortunate just to have enough to eat. Mother's father was an attorney and he was paid by people bringing food items like a chicken or watermelon to his house. They did not have indoor plumbing, but used an outhouse. They were active at the Commerce Presbyterian Church during the Depression. Mother had jobs delivering newspapers and working at the soda fountain in Commerce, Ga. when she was 14 and 15 years old, and basically supporting herself from that time onward, because her father was in hospital in Atlanta with leukemia, and died when she was 15. Her Mother stayed in Atlanta working in a factory, leaving Mother to live in Commerce independently at age 16.
After two years at Georgia State College for Women in Milledgeville, she moved to Atlanta and got a fulltime job working at Emory Medical School at Grady Hospital, and attended night school at the University of Georgia Atlanta division (now Georgia State University). She worked her way through college and graduated in 1953. She became a teacher in high school for three years, two years at Georgia State University, three years working at the State School Superintendents office at the State Department of Education and the rest of her career at DeKalb Community College for a total of 32 years. She loved teaching.
She married in 1959 and had three children. In 1981, she and her husband founded and operated Camp Woodmont, an overnight camp for boys & girls on Lookout Mountain. Their mutual experience as counselors, college teachers, Sunday School teachers, and parents was instrumental in the early success of Camp Woodmont. They touched the lives of thousand s of campers and staff from the Atlanta area and Southeast. She developed the motto for camp. "Be Your Own Self at Your Very Best, Allll the Time," which is still recited every day at camp.
She was an active member of Peachtree Presbyterian Church inAtlanta, Georgia. She enjoyed ballroom dancing, traveling, aerobics, Bible study, scrabble, ping pong and being a grandmother to four grandchildren, from 2005 - 2006, she nursed our Father through cancer, spending days at his bedside at home telling him motivational stories until he died in 2006 - never putting him in hospice or a nursing home. She battled breast cancer at age 78.
She continued to work at the summer camp until age 80 (even with dementia) never slowing down. Eventually, she was overcome with diminishing mental capabilities and increasingly pronounced dementia. She continued living in Atlanta until 2016 when she moved to a long-term care unit in Signal Mountain, Tennessee (near camp Woodmont). She was a resident in a memory care unit, due to her diminishing mental capabilities (Alzheimer's). Even when her mind was totally incompetent, she was a delight to all those around her. The nurses and aides loved her sweet, funny personality. She was a fighter and lover of life; an overall amazing woman who touched the lives of so many. She survived a direct hit by a tornado on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020, with a few cuts and bruises. She passed away in her sleep Monday, April 20, 2020.
An old man going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening cold and gray,
To a chasm vast and deep and wide.
Through which was flowing a sullen tide
The old man crossed in the twilight dim,
The sullen stream had no fear for him;
But he turned when safe on the other side
And built a bridge to span the tide.
"Old man," said a fellow pilgrim near,
"You are wasting your strength with building here,
Your journey will end with the ending day,
You never again will pass this way;
You've crossed the chasm, deep and wide,
Why build this bridge at evening tide?"
The builder lifted his old gray head;
"Good friend, in the path I have come," he said,
"followed after me to-day
A youth whose feet must pass this way,
This chasm that has been naught to me
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;
He too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him!"
"The Bridge Builder" - Will Allen Dromgoole
circa 1931, E.P. Dutton & Company
Graveside services will be Friday April 24, 2020 at 11:30 AM from the Hebron Presbyterian Cemetery in Banks County, Georgia. The immediate family will be in attendance observing CDC rules governing the Corona Virus Pandemic. Hebron Pastor, Rick Billingslea is in charge of the service.
Obituary notes from Mildred's daughter, Alyson Gondek:
Jane M. Bennett (Mom) born in 1930 at 100 S. Broad St., Commerce, Georgia, grew up in a small southern town during the Great Depression. She grew up with no luxuries, and her family was fortunate just to have enough to eat. Mother's father was an attorney and he was paid by people bringing food items like a chicken or watermelon to his house. They did not have indoor plumbing, but used an outhouse. They were active at the Commerce Presbyterian Church during the Depression. Mother had jobs delivering newspapers and working at the soda fountain in Commerce, Ga. when she was 14 and 15 years old, and basically supporting herself from that time onward, because her father was in hospital in Atlanta with leukemia, and died when she was 15. Her Mother stayed in Atlanta working in a factory, leaving Mother to live in Commerce independently at age 16.
After two years at Georgia State College for Women in Milledgeville, she moved to Atlanta and got a fulltime job working at Emory Medical School at Grady Hospital, and attended night school at the University of Georgia Atlanta division (now Georgia State University). She worked her way through college and graduated in 1953. She became a teacher in high school for three years, two years at Georgia State University, three years working at the State School Superintendents office at the State Department of Education and the rest of her career at DeKalb Community College for a total of 32 years. She loved teaching.
She married in 1959 and had three children. In 1981, she and her husband founded and operated Camp Woodmont, an overnight camp for boys & girls on Lookout Mountain. Their mutual experience as counselors, college teachers, Sunday School teachers, and parents was instrumental in the early success of Camp Woodmont. They touched the lives of thousand s of campers and staff from the Atlanta area and Southeast. She developed the motto for camp. "Be Your Own Self at Your Very Best, Allll the Time," which is still recited every day at camp.
She was an active member of Peachtree Presbyterian Church inAtlanta, Georgia. She enjoyed ballroom dancing, traveling, aerobics, Bible study, scrabble, ping pong and being a grandmother to four grandchildren, from 2005 - 2006, she nursed our Father through cancer, spending days at his bedside at home telling him motivational stories until he died in 2006 - never putting him in hospice or a nursing home. She battled breast cancer at age 78.
She continued to work at the summer camp until age 80 (even with dementia) never slowing down. Eventually, she was overcome with diminishing mental capabilities and increasingly pronounced dementia. She continued living in Atlanta until 2016 when she moved to a long-term care unit in Signal Mountain, Tennessee (near camp Woodmont). She was a resident in a memory care unit, due to her diminishing mental capabilities (Alzheimer's). Even when her mind was totally incompetent, she was a delight to all those around her. The nurses and aides loved her sweet, funny personality. She was a fighter and lover of life; an overall amazing woman who touched the lives of so many. She survived a direct hit by a tornado on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020, with a few cuts and bruises. She passed away in her sleep Monday, April 20, 2020.
An old man going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening cold and gray,
To a chasm vast and deep and wide.
Through which was flowing a sullen tide
The old man crossed in the twilight dim,
The sullen stream had no fear for him;
But he turned when safe on the other side
And built a bridge to span the tide.
"Old man," said a fellow pilgrim near,
"You are wasting your strength with building here,
Your journey will end with the ending day,
You never again will pass this way;
You've crossed the chasm, deep and wide,
Why build this bridge at evening tide?"
The builder lifted his old gray head;
"Good friend, in the path I have come," he said,
"followed after me to-day
A youth whose feet must pass this way,
This chasm that has been naught to me
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;
He too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him!"
"The Bridge Builder" - Will Allen Dromgoole
circa 1931, E.P. Dutton & Company
Obituary notes from Mildred's daughter, Alyson Gondek:
Jane M. Bennett (Mom) born in 1930 at 100 S. Broad St., Commerce, Georgia, grew up in a small southern town during the Great Depression. She grew up with no luxuries, and her family was fortunate just to have enough to eat. Mother's father was an attorney and he was paid by people bringing food items like a chicken or watermelon to his house. They did not have indoor plumbing, but used an outhouse. They were active at the Commerce Presbyterian Church during the Depression. Mother had jobs delivering newspapers and working at the soda fountain in Commerce, Ga. when she was 14 and 15 years old, and basically supporting herself from that time onward, because her father was in hospital in Atlanta with leukemia, and died when she was 15. Her Mother stayed in Atlanta working in a factory, leaving Mother to live in Commerce independently at age 16.
After two years at Georgia State College for Women in Milledgeville, she moved to Atlanta and got a fulltime job working at Emory Medical School at Grady Hospital, and attended night school at the University of Georgia Atlanta division (now Georgia State University). She worked her way through college and graduated in 1953. She became a teacher in high school for three years, two years at Georgia State University, three years working at the State School Superintendents office at the State Department of Education and the rest of her career at DeKalb Community College for a total of 32 years. She loved teaching.
She married in 1959 and had three children. In 1981, she and her husband founded and operated Camp Woodmont, an overnight camp for boys & girls on Lookout Mountain. Their mutual experience as counselors, college teachers, Sunday School teachers, and parents was instrumental in the early success of Camp Woodmont. They touched the lives of thousand s of campers and staff from the Atlanta area and Southeast. She developed the motto for camp. "Be Your Own Self at Your Very Best, Allll the Time," which is still recited every day at camp.
She was an active member of Peachtree Presbyterian Church inAtlanta, Georgia. She enjoyed ballroom dancing, traveling, aerobics, Bible study, scrabble, ping pong and being a grandmother to four grandchildren, from 2005 - 2006, she nursed our Father through cancer, spending days at his bedside at home telling him motivational stories until he died in 2006 - never putting him in hospice or a nursing home. She battled breast cancer at age 78.
She continued to work at the summer camp until age 80 (even with dementia) never slowing down. Eventually, she was overcome with diminishing mental capabilities and increasingly pronounced dementia. She continued living in Atlanta until 2016 when she moved to a long-term care unit in Signal Mountain, Tennessee (near camp Woodmont). She was a resident in a memory care unit, due to her diminishing mental capabilities (Alzheimer's). Even when her mind was totally incompetent, she was a delight to all those around her. The nurses and aides loved her sweet, funny personality. She was a fighter and lover of life; an overall amazing woman who touched the lives of so many. She survived a direct hit by a tornado on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020, with a few cuts and bruises. She passed away in her sleep Monday, April 20, 2020.
An old man going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening cold and gray,
To a chasm vast and deep and wide.
Through which was flowing a sullen tide
The old man crossed in the twilight dim,
The sullen stream had no fear for him;
But he turned when safe on the other side
And built a bridge to span the tide.
"Old man," said a fellow pilgrim near,
"You are wasting your strength with building here,
Your journey will end with the ending day,
You never again will pass this way;
You've crossed the chasm, deep and wide,
Why build this bridge at evening tide?"
The builder lifted his old gray head;
"Good friend, in the path I have come," he said,
"followed after me to-day
A youth whose feet must pass this way,
This chasm that has been naught to me
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;
He too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him!"
"The Bridge Builder" - Will Allen Dromgoole
circa 1931, E.P. Dutton & Company
Inscription
Married Aug. 22, 1959
Family Members
Siblings
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Records on Ancestry
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
