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Joseph F Bennett, Jr.

Joseph F Bennett, Jr.

February 1st, 1934 - December 1st, 2020

Biography


Joseph Francis (Joe) Bennett Jr passed away on December 1st, 2020 from conditions related to a stroke suffered on July 1st, 2019. He was 86 years old. At the time of his passing, Joe was residing at Mary’s Woods Continuing Care Retirement Community in Lake Oswego Oregon. He had his own private room, two beautiful windows to look out of, and a large screen TV where he liked watching favorite shows “Shark Tank” and “Family Feud”.


Born February 1st, 1934 in Brooklyn NY, the only child of Joseph (Sr) and Mary Bennett, Joe spent his youth playing stickball, cheering on his Yankees, and keeping an eye on the news of WWII.


After graduating from Manual Training High School (Brooklyn NY), Joe followed his passion for airplanes into the US Air Force where he enjoyed working on jet radar systems, “Defending the Mainland” during the Korean War, learning to drive (first car 1945 Plymouth), and “performing” comedy routines with fellow Air Force buddy, Gordon Fry (they considered themselves to be the “Original Rowan and Martin” comedy duo and had not cooler heads prevailed, Joe may have considered a career in entertainment). Joe served from 1952 to 1956 achieving the rank of SSgt (staff sergeant).


Air Force assignments took Joe around the West Coast and in 1956, following his honorable discharge, he chose to attend Eastern Washington University in Cheney, WA. It was there he met his beloved wife, Colleen, to whom he would be married for over 53 years until her passing in January 2011.


Joe and Colleen moved to Florida where he graduated from The University of Florida (Gainesville, Florida} earning a BA degree in Electrical Engineering (and becoming a lifelong Gators fan) in 1961.


Postgraduate job opportunities lead Joe, Colleen, and new son, Tim, back to the West Coast, this time to California, where he worked at Lockheed Missiles and Space Co (Sunnyvale), Sylvania Electronics Systems(Mountain View), the US Navy Dept (San Diego), and Hewlett Packard Co (Palo Alto). Along the way, sons Tom and Scott were born and the family of five settled into life in California.


Through the years, Joe shared his love of sports with his sons, first by coaching little league baseball for Tim and Tom. Later, when no soccer coach was available for Scott’s team, Joe stepped up, taught himself about the game, and became the coach, instituting such famous plays as the “give and go”.


Always one to seek new opportunities and follow his passions, Joe decided to switch careers and become a lawyer at the age of 38. The family moved from California to Oregon, where Joe attended Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College (Portland, Oregon) and was referred to as the “old guy” of the class. He graduated with a degree in Law in 1975 and would apply and be admitted to the Washington State Bar in May 1976. With his new Washington State Bar license in hand and much to the delight of Colleen’s parents, Howard and Francis Jacot (Spokane, Washington), the family moved to Spokane to pursue Joe’s career in law. The “Spokane Years” provided many wonderful family memories including large family gatherings at holidays (Joe moved his parents to Spokane as well), high school sporting events, Tim’s rotating car collection, and shoveling ash from Mt. St. Helens in May of 1980.


Joe would eventually land a job at the Bonneville Power Administration (Portland OR) in the Office of General Counsel, so it was back to Oregon where he worked at BPA from 1984 until his retirement in January 2010.


Known for his quick wit, love of movies, cars, and all things statistics (sports and weather!) Joe was an excellent “water cooler” discussion partner and many believed that this was the real reason he came to work each day, to see his friends and discuss the latest episode of “Lost”.


Friday night “Date nights” with Colleen consisted of dinner and a movie were routine - Joe loved routine - and he looked forward to sharing his movie reviews with film buff son Tim, and fellow work friends. Colleen helped Joe with his post-retirement movie review column “Average Joe” published in the Lake Oswego Review. Joe even co-owned a video store with Tim, called Video Gold, just in time to see the end of the “golden days” of video rentals.


Portland Trailblazer basketball became a passion that saw Joe taking time out from his Hawaiian vacations with Colleen, to sit and watch the entire NBA Draft, taking notes of each team’s selections on handwritten notepads (which he saved year after year for future reference).


Joe also had a passion for photography and his two greatest photography muses were sunsets and Mt Hood. Many photo albums and slide carousels were devoted to these subjects.


Yearly calendars were filled with special occasions and upcoming trips, but more importantly the HIGH and LOW temperature for each day. Years of calendars remain, a sort of an everyman’s almanac (also available for reference).


Joe loved cars. An avid collector of Automobile Magazines, Joe could refer back to decade’s old issues to offer advice for car purchases (most notably confirming that son Scott’s 1992 Geo Prizm was in fact a Toyota Corolla). Joe also restored cars. His favorites being two Ford Thunderbirds and a Lincoln Continental which he showed in a number of car shows.


One of Joe’s delights was shopping for new cars “for Colleen” and many a fellow co-worker was happy to buy a used car from him because he kept detailed records and maintained the cars with such care and commitment that nary an oil change or tire rotation ever was missed. The Portland Auto show was a yearly treat around Joe’s birthday where he would spend hours sitting in every car in the show. When told “You look good in that car” Joe’s favorite response was “You should see me in a Lexus”.


It could be argued that Joe’sTRUE passion in life was sitting in the sun. Co-workers, family members, and later, assisted living facility staff, would often find Joe sitting in the sun at every chance he could. Blessed with skin that tanned easily, Joe was always “working on his tan” in preparation for his yearly trips to Hawaii. Many marveled at how tan Joe could be in mid-February! In later years, Joe was always accompanied by his beloved dog, Katie, as they sat in the sun, spending hours reading the paper (only interrupted by naps “occasionally”). Sadly, Katie passed away at the age of 15, only four days after Joe. It is a comfort to know that somewhere, Joe and Katie are sitting in the sun together, napping, while Colleen continues to “get things done”.


After Colleen’s passing in 2011, Joe found the strength and courage to continue to remain active and live a meaningful life. He joined the Senior Studies Institute(SSI) at Portland Community College where he met lifelong friends and engaged in lively debates about current affairs.


In 2013 Joe, along with dear friend and date night partner Barbara Monson, traveled to Russia for a cruise down the Volga river from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Joe’s last trip was with his son Tom to attend Major League Baseball’s Spring Training 2019 in Arizona. Having loved baseball all of his life, then 85-year-old Joe brought along his glove, and was ready to catch any foul balls that might come their way.


Joe is survived by his three sons, Tim (Portland OR), Tom (Ogden UT), Scott and daughter-in-law Sarah (Seattle, WA), Former daughter in law Nancy (UT) and grandchildren Andy (with granddaughter-in-law Jerika), Sami, Ellie, Heidi, Bekah, and Great Grandchild, Zane (son of Andy and Jerika Bennett), born July 2020 to whom Joe was able to meet (via ZOOM) shortly thereafter.


Joe will be fondly remembered by friends, family, and anyone who had the pleasure of knowing him.


Joe will be placed alongside Colleen at Willamette National Cemetery sometime in early 2021.

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Family

About

Name Joseph F Bennett, Jr.
Date of Birth February 1st, 1934
Date of Death December 1st, 2020
Home Town New York, NY, US 
Other City Lake Oswego, OR, US 
Favourite Saying Scott's favorite saying from Dad: "It's amazing how busy you can be when you have nothing to do." - Joe Bennett, 02/19/2020
Cemetery

Memorial

Cemetery Willamette National Cemetery
Address Happy Valley OR
United States

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Scott Bennett published a tribute .

Dear friends and family, thank you for visiting Joe's memorial page.
I know that each and every one of you meant a lot to Joe, so thank you for being a part of his wonderful life.

We intend to update this page with information regarding memorial service or "celebration of life" events as details become available. As you can imagine, organizing any sort of public gathering (here in 2021) is challenging and we certainly do not want to endanger the health and wellbeing of any of Joe's dear friends, family, or colleagues.

There will be a small (limited capacity) event at Willamette National Cemetary sometime in early/mid-2021. If I can figure out how to live stream to this site, I will. We may also host a web/zoom memorial. All to be determined at a later date. Please forgive my lack of a clear, concise plan.

In the meantime, please feel free to share comments or memories here.

Thank you all.
Please take care and be well.
-Scott Bennett

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Robb Roberts published a comment .

This is a lovely memorial. It perfectly captures Joe. Thank you for preparing it and sharing it. I can see Joe now blissfully catching a few precious Oregon rays on a bench in Holladay Park, pant legs carefully rolled up for maximum vitamin d uptake. “Hey Robb, did you see the Blayzuhs last night?”

I will miss you Joe.

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Jim Luce published a comment .

Joe was a good friend. He did a “who’s on first”skit in our Christmas parties that everyone look forward to.

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Howard Schmid published a comment .

Helen and I were so sorry to hear of Joe's passing. We had been so looking forward to spending time with Joe and Colleen when they finally had time to spend in their AZ home, but it wasn't to be. We think of them every time we walk by their house on Delta (great house and great location!). We miss a wonderful couple.
Howard and Helen

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Scott Bennett published a tribute .

Here I am with my Dad, at my circa 1975 Birthday. I will be forever thankful to him and Mom for all of the amazing toys they spent time looking at, thinking about me and what I might like, and choosing just the right one. There is real love infused into every one of them, and I feel it. I am blessed that I STILL have all of my original toys from that era. I love them all Mom and Dad and will think of you every time I look at them. Over the years you gave me so many awesome gifts but the biggest gift you gave me was the gift of imagination. Thank you.

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Susan Fuchs published a comment .

I was blessed to work with Joe at the rural electric cooperative in Spokane, Inland Power & Light. As all of you may know, Joe couldn't be superficially acquainted -- in rather short order he shared his love for his wife and partner in everything, Colleen, and for his his awesome sons, of whom he was so very proud. Just thinking about them made him smile. We also quickly discovered we were both University of Florida Gators, so football season was always a subject of discussion. For me, most importantly, Joe was a good man, decent to his bone marrow. He was a supportive colleague who could be depended upon, someone for whom "office politics" never affected his rock solid ethics. The world is a poorer place for his passing.

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Scott Bennett published a comment .

Thank you Susan, for such kind words and great memories! We were so lucky to get to know the many exceptional people Dad (and Collen) called friends. You all became part of our lives as well. Compliments flowed both ways. I think Joe and Colleen took as much pride in their friends as they did in us kids.

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Brian Kelly published a tribute .

Joe tended to sit in the pew in front of us at Church. Us could be anywhere from 1 to 15 family members depending on who was there for mass that Sunday. All of us felt connected to Joe. His warm smile and gentleness greeted us as we checked in before mass and later shared the sign of peace. With COVID, no one has been able to attend mass in person regularly. There was something about not seeing Joe when we were there that made us wonder if something happened to him. When we read the news of his death, our concern was confirmed. We will miss Joe. We will pray for the repose of his soul. We feel blessed to have been a small part of his life. We are sorry for your loss and happy you have many cherished memories of him.

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Scott Bennett published a comment .

Thank you Brian for your kind words. Joe was such a "routine guy" that I am sure he enjoyed seeing you and your family every Sunday as well. Thank you for being part of his life. -Scott

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Kathleen Whitman published a tribute .

Joe had a Great sense of humor and was always upbeat! He was a car buff and he knew cars! I was in line when Colleen, his wife, decided to sell her Lexus; the best car I ever had & still own!! I met Joe while working at BPA and treasure the many years of friendship with both Joe and Colleen. May they rest in peace & rejoice in their new life.

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Scott Bennett published a tribute .

Update: Obituary in print:
Lake Oswego Review Wed. 1/20/21
Oregonian: Sunday 1/31/21

Thank you to everyone sharing their thoughts here. It is wonderful to read them. (I’ll post more pictures too, so check back) - Scott

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Yvonne published a comment .

Scott thank you for taking us down memory lane with Joe. Feel honored that Ted & I were able to be apart of so many events. So blessed that Joe continued to continue the friendship after Colleen passed. Yvonne

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Barb Monson published a comment .

I have so many happy memories of Joe. We were fortunate to have found each other after we had each lost a spouse. I remember the wonderful trips together and all the good times we had with friends. I miss his infectious laugh and his upbeat nature..never an unkind word. Lucky me for having known Joe.

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Godfrey Beckett published a tribute .

I was privileged to work with Joe at BPA for many years. Together, we sought solutions to challenging HR / EEO problems in the workplace. Joe was thoughtful, saw people as humans needing compassion, and as a result of his ability to understand the issues, we were able to resolve many cases that otherwise would have been litigated.
RIP.

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