Charles Gardner Bennett
January 26, 1953 – October 15, 2022
Charles Gardner Bennett age 69 of Goochland went to be with the Lord on October 15, 2022. He was preceeded in death by his parents, Warren Bennett and Dorothy Gardner Bennett of Worthington, Ohio. He is survived by his true love, his wife of 23 years Susan Lackey Bennett and their 2 beloved rescue dogs Daisy and Penny.
Chuck grew up in Ohio, enlisted in the Army and served in Korea at the DMZ. After an honorable discharge he graduated from Ohio State University Flight School and spent his career in his cherished profession as an airplane pilot, where he made many life-long friends. Chuck was fun-loving, genuine and kind and enjoyed the outdoors and the beauty of God’s creation as expressed in nature. He loved being a part of Susan’s extended family with her mom, brother Mike and sister Karen and nieces and nephews, frying the turkey for large family gatherings, generously sharing his knowledge and expertise with the younger ones and taking the nephews hunting and sharing his love of nature. He especially loved spending time with his wife Susan and being a great Dog Dad to the rescue dogs they shared their lives with over the years. He will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved him.
A memorial service will be held Saturday, November 12 at 1:00pm at Gum Spring United Methodist Church, 191 Cross County Road, Gum Spring VA 23065. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Tunnel To Towers at T2T.org.
Chuck was a very good friend and will be sorely missed. He joined us on an Alaskan float trip in 1994 and then became one of the group that met each year in Anchorage then travelled to various locations throughout the state to float a river for a week. We lovingly called him “MacGyver” do to his uncanny ability to fix difficult problems. RIP my friend!
My dear friend Chuck. Hurts to write this and have to think about Chuck as past. So many great times. So many great adventures. So many memories. Fishing, hunting, camping. Remote float plane wilderness Alaska trips and a 7 day houseboat trip on rainy lake in Minnesota.This trip almost cost us an extra $6,000.00 for an outboard engine. Chuck applied his sophisticated debating skills and was able to get us out of there for $1,000.00 dollars.
Chuck was an excellent cook. A man of the kitchen. One camping trip the thermostat on the camp oven wasn’t working correctly. End result: biscuits burned, then caught fire and so did part of the kitchen. Took us a few hours to resolve this one.
I could go on and on with the stories, mostly truthful with a twist of Chuck and some cannot be mentioned here.
Chuck will be greatly missed by all who have known him. RIP my brother!!!