Former Sen. Wallace F. Bennett was remembered Wednesday as an honorable man, respected in business, politics and his church.
Bennett's funeral saw laughter - as children and grandchildren remembered his limericks, poems and humor - and tears - as loved ones and friends said goodbye. Bennett, who served four terms in the U.S. Senate, 1951-1975, died Sunday. He was 95.President Gordon B. Hinckley, first counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said he's known the Bennett family most of his life. As a young missionary in London in 1935, President Hinckley's companion for 15 months was Bennett's younger brother, Richard. "To know (Wallace Bennett) is to know his parents, wonderful people, and his grandparents."
President Hinckley said Bennett's grandparents lost everything in a fire and lived, for a short time, literally in a dugout carved out of the side of hills in what is now the Avenues section of Salt Lake City. "Strong character is part of this family." Bennett's grandfather worked on the LDS Temple for 25 cents a day. "Hard work, honest work. Look at the tremendous impact (Wallace Bennett) has had on the lives of so many of us - in business, politics and the church."
Grandson Douglas F. Bennett remembered the "precious times" he'd spent with his grandfather. "Grandpa loved and taught each one of his 29 grandchildren. As a boy, I remember him teaching me the love of words. He'd make me deconstruct words to understand their meanings better. And so, I now deconstruct the word `grandfather.' Grand means splendid, of the highest order.' He was a splendid father to me."Some may remember Bennett in the rather solemn role of U.S. senator. But he wasn't really that way, Douglas Bennett said. "I spent a summer with he and grandmother in Washington, D.C., back when I was 17 and had long hair." His father, mother and other adults didn't appreciate the long hair. But all summer long, his grandfather didn't say a thing to him about it. "So at the end of the summer, I asked Grandpa, `What do you think of my hair.' " The long-bald senator replied: "I think you should enjoy it while you've got it." The now-balding Douglas said, "And like in so many other things, he was right."
Daughter Rosemary B. Fletcher remembered how much Bennett liked to walk, often taking children and grandchildren for hikes around the family cabin in Brighton. Indeed, may Utahns remember seeing a retired Bennett walking the streets of downtown Salt Lake City in the 1980s, sometimes carrying a small satchel on his back.
"He loved the mountains, and one of his great frustrations (these past several years) was that he couldn't get out and walk like he used to," she said. "Dad was old and ill, and we wouldn't wish him back. But we surely miss him."
Bennett was not impressed by the pomp and glory of political power. He remained a common man, several said, unimpressed by famous people. Fletcher recalled that once Bennett was stopped by a good-looking man at Sundance, where he and his wife, Frances Marion Grant Bennett, were attending a play. After the man talked with Bennett and then walked away, an amazed granddaughter asked her grandfather if he knew who the man was. "No," replied Bennett, "So many people come up and talk to me." He hadn't recognized Robert Redford.
Bennett, while kind, didn't suffer fools well, recalls former Senate aide Glendon Johnson. "Once, in the tough campaign of 1964, the senator and his aide Tom Korologos were traveling, campaigning, in southern Utah. At the end of a long day, a man walked up to the senator and challenged him, saying, "I bet you don't remember me, we met once in 1950. Come on, you can't tell me my name, can you?" Bennett turned to Korologos and said, "Tom, this man can't remember his name, please tell it to him."
Johnson said Bennett was a compassionate man, who gave privately of his time and money with few knowing about it. Johnson said when his own 12-year-old daughter was dying of leukemia, for 18 months every day she got a letter in the mail from Bennett. "What can I say about a man who would do that for a little girl?"