Jasper J. B. "Jack" Bennett, 110 years and 4 months, family patriarch, the oldest living veteran in the United States and quite possibly the oldest living person in our country, passed away Wednesday, May 7, 2003, at Tift Regional Medical Center. His funeral service was held at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, May 10, 2003, in the Sanctuary of Tifton's First Baptist Church with the Rev. Dr. Wayne Roe and the Rev. Dr. W. Ches Smith, III officiating. Mr. Bennett was laid to rest at Tift Memorial Gardens.
A military funeral honor guard served as pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers wer3e the members of the American Legion.
Bennett enlisted in the United States Navy in 1917 and was stationed in Wexford, Ireland, maintaining the fighting airplanes of the First United States Air Corps, including pulling downed planes onto a barge for reclamation. He returned home on "The Leviathan", a massive luxury liner captured from Germany during the war and refitted as a transport for the troops. He remained in the Reserve unit after World War I ended, receiving an honorable discharge on February 10, 1921.
Bennett was born January 3, 1893, in Screven, to Isabel Patterson Carter Bennett and Hershel V. Bennett. Descending from a long line of patriots, some of his earlier ancestors served in the Virginia House of Burgesses and were instrumental in the establishment of that colony. The American Legion, of which he was a longtime member, has honored this great-great grandson of a revolutionary soldier, grandson and namesake of a Confederate soldier, through the years, as well as had the City of Tifton. His family cites his patriotism and pride in his country, which was shared with his wife, as strongly influencing their own lives.
Married to Frances Elizabeth Maddox Bennett on August 10, 1930, in Pierce County, the couple began their married life in Douglas, where Bennett was working at the Jardine Machine and Foundry Company. They later moved to Waycross, and then to Tifton, where Bennett in 1931 opened and operated Bennett's Body Shop for 34 years.
Bennett's life, spanning across three centuries, saw the invention of the zipper, the first successful flight by the Wright Brothers, and the horseless carriage being named "automobile". As a young boy, he remembered seeing an automobile for the first time when it was being driven on a road alongside the field he was plowing on his family's farm. At the age of 12, he moved with his family to Offerman, where they had purchased land. He helped cut the timber on the land to build the family home.
Preceding him in death was a beloved daughter, June Elizabeth Bennett Lindsey; his first-born grandson, James Ross Lindsey, Jr.; a great-grandson, Colby Ross Lindsey; his parents, Isabel and Hershel Bennet; his infant twin brother; a sister, Reba Bennett Pittman; a brother, Richmond Hobson Bennett; half-sisters, Emma Carter Howard, Sarah Carter and blanche Bennett Foster; half-brothers, Doil Carter, Emmett Bennett, Mack Carter and Wallace Carter; numerous brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nieces and nephews.
His survivors are his beloved wife of 72 years, Frances Bennett of Tifton; sons and their wives, Jack E. Bennet of Tifton, Nick and Nancy Bennett of Port St. Lucie, Florida and Ray and Marolynn of Oglethorpe; his daughters and their husbands, Carolyn and Bob Pilkinton of Tifton and Milva and Roy Knight of Waycross; a son-in-law, James Lindsey of Tifton; his wife's sister-in-law, Millie Maddox of Carrollton; his grandchildren and their spouses, Cynthis Lindsey of Tifton, Renee and Robert Winter of Roswell, Stephanie and Mike Irwin of Palm City, Florida, Rob and Suzanne Bennett of Panama City, Florida, Christine and Jeff Nestor of Melbourne, Florida, Lisa and Dane Green of Omega, Clay and Sonya Pilkinton of Tifton, Dan Bennett of Deer Lodge, Tennesse, Trudibeth and James Boundey of Great Falls, Montana, JoAnn and Jeffrey Chastain of Orlando, Florida and Jereby Bennett Knight of the Vinings, Atlanta; his great-grandchildren, Chase, Mitchell and Todd Green, Hunter, Drew and Alexis Pilkinton, Amanda, Joshua and Matthew Irwin, Austin Bennett, Jonah and Ben Boundey, Jessica, Jaci and Jenna Chastain and Brittany and Brandon Winter; his nephews and their wives, Retired Captin Charles and Margie Pittman of Winter Haven, Florida, Richard and Nancy Bennett of Bradenton, Florida and Ralph and Elvie Bennett of Blackshear; one niece, Virginia Victor of Panama City, Florida; several great-nieces; several great-nephews; and numerous other relatives.
A special sentiment from his great-niece and her husband, Terri Forrest and Chuck Reed of Hammond, Louisiana reads: "Uncle Jack is more than the oldest living veteran, he's a living testament to a bygone era when men were valiant and women godly. Aunt Frances is far more precious than a crown of rubies. The are our nation's truly greatest treasure - their wisdom, love of God and country and one another can't be equaled. True Americans. True Christians".