Willis Hay “Race” Bennett
The funeral for Willis Hay “Race” Bennett of Emporia and formerly of Cottonwood Falls will be at 1 p.m. Friday at the First Presbyterian Church in Cottonwood Falls. The Rev. Pat Ireland will conduct the service. Burial will be in Prairie Grove Cemetery in rural Cottonwood Falls. The family will meet friends from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the Brown-Bennett-Alexander Funeral Home. Friends also may call from noon to 8 p.m. Wednesday and 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home and from 9 a.m. Friday until service time.
Memorial contributions to the Emporia Friends of the Zoo or Chase County Emergency Medical Services may be sent in care of the funeral home, 201 Cherry St., Cottonwood Falls, KS 66845.
Mr. Bennett died Sunday, June 10, 2007, at Newman Regional Health. He was 89.
He was associated with the Stine-McClure Funeral Home in Kansas City, Mo., in 1941, the Freeman Mortuary in Kansas City, Mo., from 1945 until 1952 and the Roberts-Blue-Barnett Funeral Home in Emporia from 1952 until 1957. He and his wife, Marilyn, purchased the Brown Funeral Home in Cottonwood Falls in 1957 and retired in 1982. He was one of the first certified emergency medical technicians in Kansas. He served in the U.S. Navy as a medic from 1941 until 1945 and was stationed much of that time in Brazil.
The son of J.C. and Florence Hay Bennett, he was born Dec. 16, 1917, in Eskridge. He attended Eskridge schools, the College of Emporia and Kansas State Teachers College in Emporia. He graduated from Williams Institute of Mortuary Science in Kansas City, Kan.
He married Marilyn Oliver on Oct. 26, 1945, at Seattle, Wash. She died March 1, 1987.
Mr. Bennett was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Emporia and a trustee and Elder of the First Presbyterian Church in Cottonwood Falls. He is a member of American Legion Ball-McColm Post 5 and was president of the Kiwanis Club in Emporia. In Cottonwood Falls, he was president of the Chamber of Commerce and Twin Cities Lions Club, a member of Zeredatha Masonic Lodge 80, A.F. and A.M. and the American Legion.
He is survived by three daughters, Bev Scott of Emporia, Terri Clendenen of Wichita and Nancy Nurnberg of Port Byron, Ill.; seven grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
Two brothers, Eldon L. Bennett and J. Dale Bennett, died earlier.
“Race” Bennett is survived by five great grandchildren. This information was not given to The Gazette for the obituary published Tuesday.