Sandra Jean Bennett, Cancer Survivor

Sandra Jean Bennett, who was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 39 and who survived the cancer’s spread for many years, died at her Springs home on Nov. 17. She was 78. 

Mrs. Bennett came to East Hampton as a young woman when her father was hired to operate the town airport. Her family moved many times while she was growing up and she had attended 16 different schools.

According to her daughter Susan Seekamp, her brothers would ask their mother to find out what the kids in each new school, which might be in California after they had been living in New York, were wearing because they did not want to appear too different. “My mother,” Ms. Seekamp said, “didn’t care, she wore what she wanted and then everyone else would start wearing what she had on.”

Mrs. Bennett was born on March 31, 1938, in Jamestown, N.Y., one of three children of George Vine and the former Racheal Melquist, both of whom died before her. She met John C. Bennett in East Hampton, and they were married in 1960. 

Mrs. Bennett was a homebody who enjoyed cooking and entertaining. She loved being outdoors and especially enjoyed going to Maidstone Beach, to which she would bicycle and where she would swim. She frequently drove her Jeep there when she was ill.

In addition to her husband and Ms. Seekamp, who is an owner of Brent’s Deli in Amagansett,  Mrs. Bennett is survived by her other children, Stacy Rogers of Mattituck and Jo Ann Comfort of Bridgehampton. Her brothers, George Vine of West Islip and Scott Vine of Bellport, also survive, as do five grandchildren. 

Visiting hours took place at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton on Nov. 23; Mrs. Bennett was buried at Cedar Lawn Cemetery in East Hampton that afternoon. The family has suggested memorial donations to the Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, P.O. Box 5028, Hagerstown, Md. 21741-5028.