Jessie M. Bennett

She was born Oct. 25, 1929, to the Rev. Frederick A. and Ada M. (Barber) Lubbs in Coleta. She was the youngest of six children. She graduated from Milledgeville High School in 1948. She met the love of her life, Robert W. Bennett, while roller-skating at the Dome in Dixon. Jessie asked Bob to skate on a ladies choice. Their first date together, which they celebrated every year, was St. Patrick’s Day 1949. They were married April 8, 1950, and spent the next 57 happy years together until Bob’s passing in 2007.

Jessie worked in the office at Oak Knoll Cemetery in Sterling. On their wedding night, they went tiptoeing through the cemetery to their car they had hidden in the office garage, only to find her brothers, who knew where it was hidden, and had blocked it in. They moved to Aurora in 1952, where Jessie enjoyed the pleasure of being a stay-at-home mom and raising her three children until the youngest started high school. Jessie and Bob were active members of Claim Street Baptist Church (now Morning Star Community Church). Jessie spent many years as a volunteer worker in the nursery, and beginning in 1975, enjoyed working in the church office until her retirement in 1995.

She is survived by her son, Dennis (Diane) Bennett of San Francisco and New York; daughter, Doreen (Jeff) Johnson of Aurora; son-in-law, Tom Barney of Kingston, Jamaica; daughter-in-law, Robin Bennett of Naperville; special grandchildren, Daniel Bennett, Paul (Christine) Johnson, Devin and Shelby Johnson, Jessica (Ryan) Beery, Jenna Barney, and Kiana and Quinn Bennett; very special great-granddaughter, Elizabeth Delatorre; sister, AnnaMarie Rouse of Glendale, Ariz.; as well as many brothers- and sisters-in-law.  

Along with her parents and loving husband, Jessie was preceded in death by her youngest daughter, Dee Bennett Barney.

Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., followed by the service at 12:30 p.m., Saturday at Healy Chapel, 332 W. Downer Place, Aurora, with the Rev. Jim Behrens officiating. Interment will be at Lincoln Memorial Park in Aurora. There will be a luncheon served after the burial at Morning Star Community Church, 8S101 Barnes Road, Aurora.