Performer Lillian Bennett Dies Of Heart Failure At 92 Times Picayune 04-27-1996 ************************************************* Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ Lillian Otie Mitchell Bennett, an accordionist and pianist who performed at Pat O'Brien's club in the French Quarter and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, died Thursday of congestive heart failure at Elmwood Medical Center. She was 92. Mrs. Bennett was born in Halls, Tenn., and lived in Metairie for the past 40 years. She studied to be a concert pianist, but at 18 she joined a road show where she met her husband, Owen Bennett. From the early 1920s to the early 1940s, they traveled the country, performing under many names. During World War II she entertained at USO shows with stars such as Bob Hope, and after the war she took her cabaret show to many cities. Mrs. Bennett played the piano at Pat O'Brien's for three years, performed at the 1984 New Orleans world's fair and for eight years played the accordion and piano at the Jazz and Heritage Festival. In her final years, she gave private music lessons. In 1987, Times-Picayune columnist Angus Lind wrote that in a set at the Jazzfest, Mrs. Bennett played "everything from ragtime to boogie-woogie to a bawdy song about a West Virginny whore. And an appreciative audience let her know how much they enjoyed her routine." She told Lind, "Nobody's had a happier time than me. Nobody. I live from one day to the next - and they're all happy." She was a member of the American Federation of Musicians and Rayne Memorial United Methodist Church. Survivors include a daughter, Rita Dawn Bennett St. Amant; a brother, David N. Mitchell; and four grandchildren. A funeral will be held today at 3 p.m. at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd. Visitation will begin at 1 p.m. Burial will be in Covington, Tenn.