Virginia Parma Boyle Bennett, 83, died at the Baptist Medical Center in Little Rock on Monday, Jan. 1, 2007.
She was born in Clarendon on April 22, 1923, one of eight children, to the late Johnny Patrick Boyle and the late Vesta Alma Grisham Boyle.
Mrs. Bennett and her late husband were members of pioneer farm families who settled Monroe County prior to the turn of the 20th Century. She was a 1940 graduate of Holly Grove High School, and in January 1942 she was united in marriage to Thomas Bruce Bennett of the Blackton community. In 1946 she moved to the Cypress Ridge communty with her husband and children and lived there until her death.
She was baptized into the Lutheran faith and was a charter member of the Our Savior Lutheran Church in Rich where she was a member of the Lutheran Women's Missionary League. She was also a charter member of the East Monroe County Volunteer Fire Department. Mrs. Bennett enjoyed collecting clowns, sewing and quilting.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Johnny and Vesta Boyle and in 1977 by her husband, Thomas Bruce Bennett Sr.
She is survived by two sons, Thomas Bruce Bennett Jr. and wife, Linda, of Huntsville, Ala., and Charles Keith Bennett and wife, Shirley, of Brinkley; three brothers, Marvin Boyle and wife, Delores, Kenneth Boyle and wife, Jeriline, and Robert Boyle and wife, Elsie, all of Brinkley; a sister, Irma Jean Paul of Creston, Iowa; five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Services were held at 10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 4, at the Our Savior Lutheran Church in Rich with Pastor Thom Lasko, Pastor John Graham and Deacon Ray Vestor officiating. Burial was in Sunset Memorial Park in Barton by Bob Neal and Sons Funeral Home of Brinkley. Pallbearers were Gary Bennett, Gordon K. Bennett, Bobby Boyle, Marvin Wilson, Curtis Nash and Larry Morris. Honorary pallbearers were Billy Reynolds, David Reynolds, Doug Wagner, Bill Flake, Chick Williams and Dick Hardwick.
Memorials may be given to Baptist Health Hospice, 11900 Colonel Glenn Road, Suite 2000, Little Rock, AR 72210-2820.
