A Life Message From a Grateful Family

Jill Dueben speaks of the deep bond between her and Harold Bennett, a resident of Westminster Village for the last four years of his life.

“He was my favorite uncle, forever.  I grew up in Connecticut, but my father came from Bethlehem.  Uncle Harold never married, but lived with my grandparents in the family home.  Summers in Bethlehem with Uncle Harold, Aunt Caroline, and my grandparents were what I remember.”

Harold spent his career at Bethlehem Steel, as had his father before him.  Working there as a clerk from the 1950s to his retirement in 1982, he was a private, quiet, unassuming man who loved to read, hike, and visit with his niece.  Yet he was also a talented and productive artist who had taken drawing and painting lessons for years.  He gave away many of his paintings, drawings and etchings before he came to Westminster Village.

“Westminster Village became his home, and he made wonderful friends here,” said Jill.  “I could never call him at night, because he was always out with them.  They meant so much to him, but the care he received in his apartment meant a lot to him, too.  The staff treated Harold and everyone who lived there graciously – and they treated me that way, too.  They were so friendly and caring.  It made us feel very good that he was here.”

Just two months before he died, Harold showed how much that community meant to him.  He changed his will to include Westminster Village among his beneficiaries.  “He wanted to remember those who took care of him and who meant a lot to him.  His gift will carry on that care for other people.”

Campaign Westminster: Giving for Living, the major capital project to renovate the Health Center, gave Jill and her husband John the chance to commemorate Harold.  “When we learned the naming opportunity for Harold’s gift could be either an activity area or a living room in the new Health Center, we laughed.  We agreed Harold was a living room kind of guy.”  He probably would have been too modest to choose this recognition for himself, but for Jill and John “it seemed like a very nice tribute to him.  Westminster Village was part of our life, too – it became an extension of ourselves.”

At Harold’s memorial service at Westminster Village, Jill and John extended that generosity.  They placed Harold’s works of art around the room for his friends to afterwards select a representation they wanted.  In this family we salute a generosity of spirit extending generation to generation, one that will be celebrated in the Harold Bennett Living Room in the Health Center for years to come.