Emmett C. Bennett

Emmett Clarence Bennett, a lifetime resident of Springs and Wainscott, died of Huntington’s disease at the Long Island State Veterans Home in Stony Brook on Sept. 16. He was 67 and had been ill for years.

Mr. Bennett graduated from East Hampton High School with the class of 1964 and joined the Air Force two years later, serving as a mechanic for about four years. His roots here went way back. He was born at Southampton Hospital on Oct. 26, 1946, to Clarence Bennett and the former Clara Payne; he was related to the Lester family as well.

While stationed with the Air Force in England, he met and married the former Eunice Bowerman. They lived for five months in Alabama before he was discharged and then moved to the East End, first to Hedges Lane in Wainscott and later to Springs.

Mrs. Bennett survives, as does a daughter, Danielle Pizzo of Richmondville, N.Y., and a son, Michael Bennett of Lincoln, Calif. He also leaves two grandchildren.

Mr. Bennett worked for many years for the East Hampton Town Parks and Recreation Department, a perfect job for an outdoorsman. He was an early riser, his daughter wrote — up every morning at 5:30. In his spare time, with his father and sister, Catherine McHugh, who lives in East Hampton, he helped to raise and show chickens at poultry shows, and also coached Little League baseball while his children were growing up. His wife fell in love with American softball, and Mr. Bennett coached her team for many years, and a men’s softball team as well.

He had an eclectic appreciation of a broad range of activities, from watching the birds that gathered around the family feeder to country music and the music of the ’50s. The Bennetts went to many concerts at the Westbury Music Fair. On television, he was a fierce fan of the Boston Red Sox and the Pittsburgh Steelers. His children also reported that he was a wicked badminton competitor.

Family gatherings were extremely important to him, whether a barbecue or a Sunday-morning breakfast. “I can close my eyes and hear him making coffee in the kitchen, humming,” his son told a large crowd of friends and relatives during graveside services Saturday at Round Swamp Cemetery in East Hampton, where generations of Lesters are buried. His debilitating disease “never got him down,” his son said. “He never gave up and he never complained.”

Mr. Bennett spent his last 15 months in the veterans home. “We could have paid a million dollars a day and not gotten better care,” his wife said yesterday, adding that “he was a simple man. He loved the simple things, and he loved his family.”

The family has suggested that memorial donations be directed to the Huntington’s Disease Society of America, 505 8th Avenue, New York 10018.