Charles Edward Bennett

Mr. Bennett died Tuesday morning, 15 September 2015 at the Hillsboro Rehabilitation and Health Care Center. He was twelve days shy of his 91^st birthday.

He was the born at Kampsville, Calhoun County, Illinois, 27 September 1924, the son of Clarence Edward and Ethel Nora (Hicks) Bennett. His mother having passed 5 September 1930, just 19 days before his 5^th birthday, he was raised by his Grandma Martha Ann (Jockins) Bennett. He never held a woman with higher regard than his Grandma.

As a young man he enjoyed fishing, hunting, reading comic books and listening to the radio. Life was good as long as he was not in school.

As a young adult he served in the Army’s 75^th Division, 290^th Infantry Regiment, 1^st Battalion, and Company B as a heavy machine gunner. He marched for over a year through Normandy, France and Germany without spending a single night in doors. While he appreciated those he saw liberated, he saw friends fall. He knew well the price paid for liberty.

After the war he served with an Army unit detailed to assist in the cleanup at Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan. A chore he could not see end soon enough.

Other occupations included: a river man on the Illinois River barges, crane operator, and prison guard with the Illinois Department of Corrections.      

He was married to Dolores May (Hill) on November 18, 1961, in Edwardsville; she precede him in death this past spring on 22 April 2015.

Surviving are their eight children: James E. Bennett and wife Pam, Kenneth W. Bennett and wife Susan, all of Carlinville, Nora Beadle and husband Charles of Litchfield, DeeDee Forward and husband Daniel of Provo, Utah, Charles R. Bennett of East Alton, Clinton J. Bennett of Glenford, Ohio, Bonnie Herrera and husband Adam of West Boylston, Massachusetts, and Mary Harty and husband Lewis of Collinsville; 21 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren.

Graveside services will be held Monday at 10:30 A.M. at the Wood-Davis Cemetery in Bunker Hill. President Lon Bruce of the Litchfield branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints will officiate. Friends and family may meet at Litchfield Family Funeral Service at 9:15 A.M. to process to the cemetery.

The family suggests memorials to the Alzheimer’s Association.

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