By Mary Delamater,Staff Writer

AUBURN – Countless women in western Maine have benefited from the generosity of Jennie Bennett, a woman with sparkling brown eyes and a generous heart, but few of them may have known her.

The Italian immigrant, who died Tuesday morning at the age of 85, was remembered for her many contributions, especially helping to establish the Sam and Jennie Bennett Breast Care Center at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.

“I think she was very proud of it,” said Tonie Ramsey, 79, of Auburn, who co-chaired the fund-raising campaign for the center. “She always felt this was very, very important,” and she wanted to do it. And she knew it was something her husband, Sam, would be pleased with also.

Hospital CEO Peter Chalke described Jennie Bennett as “a very caring and generous individual.” She, along with her husband, were the major contributors to the center, he said.

“It’s helped countless women,” said Chalke, since it opened in February 1998.

He said Bennett was inspirational, and that her death is “a great loss to our community.”

Bennett, who came to the United States at the age of 2, married Sam in 1939, and they founded Sam’s Italian Sandwich Shoppe that same year.

“I just loved her to pieces,” said Ramsey. “I’ve known her since I was a little kid” when the two of them grew up in the neighborhood of Blake, Ash and Sabattus streets in Lewiston.

“She was one of the dearest, kindest, loving people and a true, true friend in every sense of the word,” she said.

The two served on the Women’s Hospital Association and were members of the Women’s Literary Union.

They also loved to travel.

“One of my best memories was our many trips we took together,” Ramsey said. They visited Bennett’s native Italy and Ramsey’s native Greece, along with Germany and England.

“We shared a lot of the same beliefs, thoughts and ideas,” Ramsey said.

And both women also encountered obstacles in their youth because of their ethnicity, she said. But Bennett’s response was always to be positive.

“She looked on the good side of most people and most situations. She cared about people and was very willing to help when called upon.”

One of those calls was to help with the hospital association’s Red Stocking Review, a musical featuring local talent to raise money for the hospital. Bennett would take part in skits and help in other ways.

“She was a very community-minded person,” Ramsey said, and “she cared very much about the hospital.”

Bennett was also an excellent cook, Ramsey said, and loved to read and enjoyed the arts.

“She had a sparkle in her beautiful brown eyes that just lit up when she saw her friends,” said Ramsey, who saw her for the final time last week.

“She certainly helped spread a lot of good will,” she said. “She deserved every accolade anyone could give her.”