JOY BENNETT

Longtime Alaskan Joy Bennett, 76, died at her home in Wasilla on Dec. 29, 2004.

There will be a celebration of life memorial at 1 p.m. Saturday,at Willow Chapel, with Dale Sandstrom officiating. A potluck will follow the services. She has been cremated and there will be a private family service to be held at a later date. Please send flower donations to the chapel, located at Mile 69.5 Parks Hwy.

Ms. Bennett was born Aug. 10, 1928, in Irwin, Idaho. She and her family moved to Alaska shortly afterward. She grew up in Juneau, married and moved to Texas.

A few years later, she came back to Alaska with her two children, later moving in with her father in Anchorage and then up to a homestead in Willow. She was a cook and waitress for many years before retirement, when she moved in with her daughter and her family in the Valley.

Her family wrote, "She was a Christian and believed in God. She loved to be with her family and friends. She also played the violin in younger years and sang with her sisters and brothers at the local community hall."

She was preceded in death by her sister, Bebe Graham.

She is survived by her son, Jay, and daughter-in-law, Ruth; daughter, Carolyn, and son-in-law, Larry; grandchildren, Jay Jr. and his wife, Carrie and her husband, Danny and his wife, Ernest, Lisa and her daughter and Danny and Janene with their children; siblings, Anita Delaney, Ernest (Jr.) Daniels, Danny Daniels and many nieces and nephews, great-grandchildren and extended family and friends.

Arrangements were made by Valley Funeral Home & Crematory in Wasilla.