Marie Therese Bennett Hood
1927 - 2009

Marie Therese Bennett Hood was born on March 22, 1927, in Somerville, Massachusetts, to William F. Bennett and Ellen Cotter Bennett. Beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, she died peacefully April 2, 2009, with her daughters at her side, in Bend, Oregon. She was preceded in death by her husband, Howard (Skip) Hood in 1992, grandson Armando Zambrano, Jr., brother William F. Bennett III, and sister Katherine DeJoy.

The fourth of five children, Marie grew up in West Medford, Massachusetts. She spent her summers at Little Neck and later Pocassett. She graduated from Hickox Secretarial College in Boston. She married Skip on October 1953. Shortly after their wedding, Skip, who served in the Air Force for 26 years, was transferred to Spangdalem Air Force Base in Germany. After Germany, Skip and Marie returned to Massachusetts when Skip was assigned to Hanscom Air Force Base in New Hampshire.

In May 1957, Skip and Marie arrived at their new assignment at Camp Cooke, soon to be Cooke Air Force Base, later renamed Vandenberg Air Force Base, in Lompoc. Marie worked for sever years as a secretary on the base, her last years as the secretary to the Base Director of Operations. After the birth of her third child, Marie retired from secretarial work. In the coming years, she would devote time and love of singing to the base church choir, and literally thousands of hours to Family Services at both Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana and at Vandenberg Air Force Base upon returning to Lompoc. Skip retired from the Air Force in 1973, and they purchased a home in Vandenberg Village. Both Marie and Skip volunteered in the Records Department at the base hospital.

In 2003 Marie left Lompoc to be near her daughters in Bend, Oregon.

Marie is survived by her daughters, Jean Marie (Armando) Zambrano of Lompoc, Katherine (Kathy) Koponick and Patricia (Tricia) Hood, both of Bend, Oregon, her granddaughters, Christina (David) Steckley of Dixon, California, Chani Zambrano of Lake Charles, Louisiana, and great grandchildren Kaitlyn Rose Steckley, Marcell Ceaser, Aaron Zambrano, brothers, Paul (Caroline) Bennett of Evansville, Indiana, and Vincent (Lu) Bennett of Las Vegas, Nevada, and numerous nieces and nephews.

Rosary will be held at 5 pm, Wednesday, April 15, 2009, at Queen of Angels Catholic Church. A Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated at the church on Thursday, April 16, 2009, at 10 am, with Monsignor John Fitzgerald officiating. Inurnment will follow at Lompoc Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family request that donations be made to Partners in Care, 2075 N.E. Wyatt Court, Bend, OR 97701.