Cora Mae Bennett

Cora Mae Bennett, age 101, died Sunday, June 3, 2012, in Oklahoma City. She was born on November 2, 1910, in Denison, Texas to Albert Byron and May Victoria Watkins Anderson. In 1938 she moved to Oklahoma City where she worked as a Cashier for American National Insurance Company and later for Douglas Aircraft. In 1940 she began a sixty-six year marriage to James Fabian Bennett, living in Oklahoma City and Muskogee during that period. Like many others of her generation, Cora Mae survived many challenges. She lived through two world wars and the Great Depression, during which she was never unemployed. Although her formal education ended with the eleventh grade, she always valued books, reading, education and artistic endeavors. She was a jolly and enthusiastic woman who had many talents. She loved to garden and raised beautiful peonies, irises and cannas. She was an inventive cook, creating new dishes when she lacked traditional ingredients. She continually experimented with recipes for candies, cookies, pies, cakes and yeast confections. In her fifties, she began sewing her own clothes without using formal patterns. She had beautiful penmanship and was known for the enjoyable letters she wrote to many lifelong friends. She was an avid newspaper reader and collected interesting articles and photos. She faithfully read The Oklahoman daily (enjoying especially the editorial pages, Cal Thomas and Billy Graham) until the last weeks of her life. She demonstrated high standards in every activity, from typing and shorthand to ironing. She played the piano, whistled beautifully, enjoyed poetry and hymns, and loved perfume, red lipstick and red nail polish. She cut and styled her own hair. She could upholster a chair, paint a room and put up delicious fruit preserves. She was known for the many "old sayings" that sprinkled her conversation. She valued afternoon naps, clocks and music boxes, songbirds, and the great state of Texas. Having grown up as the daughter of a railroad employee, whose family pass facilitated train travel throughout the country, she loved railroads and the beckoning call of travel. She was a lifelong Christian, having been baptized as a child in a river near her hometown. She was a long-time member of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. She loved and faithfully cared for her family, including her husband, two sons, daughter-in-law, granddaughter, and others, throughout her life. She is predeceased by her parents, her husband, infant twins James and John, her son David, and her brother Albert. She is survived by her son Charles (& Dyann) Bennett of Tulsa, granddaughter Laurel (& Aaron) Jaqua of Norman, nephew Paul (& Janelle) Anderson of Portland, OR and the Connell family of Omaha, NE.