NORWAY – Richard James Bennett, 66, passed away at Stephens Memorial Hospital on June 10 after several months of failing health. He was born on December 4, 1941 in Berlin, N.H. to Jean and Gordon Bennett. He was raised by his grandparents, Harold and Annie Nutting of Bethel. He graduated from Gould Academy in 1961 and the University of Maine in 1965, with a degree in Animal Science. He went into the Air Force in 1966 where he became a medical laboratory technician. He and his family moved back to Maine in the summer of 1969. He continued working as a laboratory technician at Saint Joseph Hospital in Bangor and James A. Taylor osteopathic Hospital also in Bangor. The family moved back to Albany, Maine, there he made a life long home and became the Chief Laboratory Technician at Bridgton Hospital until his retirement in 1994. He then cut wood, worked in snowmaking at Sunday River Ski Resort, and started a perennial plant and organic gardening business. He sold plants and vegetables at the Bethel and Norway Farmers Markets until failing health made it impossible to continue.

He is survived by his wife of 44 years, Kathleen Twitchell Bennett of Albany; son David Bennett, his ex-wife Jackie and his grandson Marcus; son Daniel Bennett, his wife Heidi and two grandsons Tristan and Carter of New Hampshire; son Douglas Bennett, his wife Jennifer and granddaughter Isabella of East Bethel; mother Jean Smith of Oxford; sister Diana Smith and her husband Stuart of Oxford; uncle Russell Nutting and his wife Darlene of Limerick and many brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews.