Norfolk City Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Bennett, Vivian Pauline Roper February 17, 2010
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Robert Woolfitt http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00034.html#0008401 March 4, 2022, 1:21 pm

Virginian-Pilot  February 19, 2010
Vivian Pauline Roper Bennett died Feb.17, 2010, at the age of 88, born June 2, 
1921. A native of Richmond, she was the daughter of the late Robert Lee Roy and 
Martha Susan Snellings Roper. She was predeceased by her siblings, Thelma Lee 
Hutchins, Doris Elizabeth Eacho, James Thomas Roper, John Leroy Roper, Susan 
Snellings Gearhart, Linwood Michael, Charles Raymond Roper, and her husband, 
Norman "Jeep" Smith Bennett, Jr. Pauline and her husband met in the early 1930s 
while he was playing in the University of North Carolina's Big Band in Buckroe 
Beach, a summer holiday spot for Richmonders. He was quite handsome and the band 
leader - it was love at first sight. They married in 1938, settled in the 
Tidewater area in the late 50s and raised four children. During these years 
"Polly" and "Jeep" made their mark in the local jazz and Dixieland scene. In later 
years, they moved to New Orleans to play the riverboats, Mississippi Queen and 
Delta Queen, and the French Quarter. They lived a life filled with the rich smoky 
colors and sounds of a bygone era of Miller, Dorsey and Goodman - when music and 
romance fused and life was innocent. Polly and Jeep brought joy to many with their 
music and song. They were members of Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Virginia 
Beach and played music during Mass in the summer at St. Simons in Sandbridge, 
where they lived for 30 years. Pauline is survived by two sisters, Mrs. Janice 
Regina Dixon and husband, Arthur Dixon, of Richmond, Mrs. Adrien Justine Knowles 
of Newport News, numerous nieces and nephews; four children, Mary Alice Bennett of 
Santa Paula, Calif., Mrs. Anne D. Howerton and husband, Kenneth, of Portsmouth, 
Rev. Norman Smith Bennett, III, C.S.S.R. of Brooklyn, NY, Michael Joseph Bennett 
and wife, Sandra, of Mount Vernon, Va.; 18 grandchildren, 46 great-grandchildren 
and three great-great-grandchildren. The family would like to thank Bon Secours 
Nursing Center and staff for the tender care given to Pauline these last precious 
weeks. We will dearly miss her "Five foot two / eyes of blue" and she sang "Please 
don't talk about me when I'm gone". A wake and rosary will be held at Foster 
Funeral Home, Portsmouth, at 7 p.m. today, Feb. 19. A funeral Mass will be held 
Saturday, Feb. 20, at 11 a.m. in St. Paul's Catholic Church, Portsmouth. Burial to 
follow at St. Mary's Cemetery, Norfolk. Memorial donations may be made to: St. 
Paul's Catholic Church, Restoration Fund, 518 High St., Portsmouth.

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