Remembering Jane Bennington
On Jan. 23, 2020, the island lost beloved soul, Jane Ellen Bennington. Her passion for helping others, shown through her work at St. John’s Episcopal Church and the Beacon of Hope, shined brightly right up to her passing. Jane’s husband of 43 years, George Bennington recalls having met his late wife while they both worked for the same Indiana-based telephone company. They lived and worked in Indiana, he said, until moving to Pine Island in 1995.
“We loved Pine Island. We did a lot of recreational sailing, but then we started getting involved with the community,” Bennington said.
Together the couple covered a lot of ground. While Jane’s love for people drew her to get involved, both at St. John’s and to eventually become the Beacon Board president, George said he was doing information technology in the background. As far back as when they were living in Indiana, he said, Jane was always very community minded, involving herself in programs such as the Girl Scouts. It was her concern for others, in part, that first drew George to his wife.
“Anytime we traveled and there was a homeless person, she always had to stop and give them money, or help them in any way. That’s just the type of giving person she was,” George said.
To Jane, family came first, with St. John’s Episcopal Church, the United Way, the Beacon of Hope and anyone in need running a close second. The island was a deep love for Jane, said George, admitting that they’d had that in common.
“Jane was a remarkable person who would have hated to be put on a pedestal of any kind. She had many priorities and she was good at all of them,” George said.
The Beacon of Hope recently voted unanimously to begin an endowment in the name of Jane Bennington, a former board president. According to current Beacon board president Caryle Regan, Bennington’s family gave donations made at her funeral, totaling $5,800 to the Beacon of Hope.