Lebanon, NH – Shirley (Hersom) Bennette, 91, formerly of Fairlee, VT, died on Friday, September 16, 2016, at Harvest Hill in Lebanon, where she has most recently resided.

She was born in Worcester, MA, on July 5, 1925, daughter of Bertha (Lund) and Ralph Horatio Hersom.  She was a graduate of Classical High School in Worcester and Mt. Holyoke College, Magna Cum Laude , and Phi Beta Kappa.  She also earned a M.A.

Degree from the University of California at Berkeley, CA.  From 1949-50 she studied at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Greece on a Fulbright Fellowship.

Mrs. Bennette taught Latin and held administrative positions at the Northfield School for Girls in Northfield, MA,  Dana Hall in Wellesley, MA, and Birch Wathen School in Manhattan before joining the faculty at the Nightingale-Bamford School there, where she headed the Classics Department for many years.

In 1957, she was married to George Gilbert Bennette at The Riverside Church in Manhattan and remained a member until her death.  Among the volunteer positions she held there were service on the Board of Deacons and chairing the Lay Pastoral Callers, Election, and Membership committees.

Her husband predeceased her in 1999.  She is survived by their two sons, Stephen Page Bennette of Brooklyn, NY and Matthew Gilbert Bennette of Clemmons, NC, and a grandson Nathan Brayer Bennette, many nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews.  She was predeceased by her siblings Carol L. Barker, James A. Hersom and Ralph H. Hersom, Jr.

Mrs. Bennette first came to Fairlee in 1938 to spend the summer at Bonnie Oaks with her Aunt and Uncle, Dr. and Mrs. Ernest H. Page.  Following her marriage, the family continued to vacation in Fairlee.  Her husband and she divided the year between Manhattan and Fairlee after their retirement in 1990 and they became full-time residents in 1999.

Mrs. Bennette was an Associate Member of the Bradford, VT Congregational United Church of Christ where she served on the Board of Mission and Social Action; the music Committee, and the Organ Committee.  After her husband's death from complications of Parkinson's Disease, she helped to lead the Parkinson's Disease support group of the Upper Valley.  She also trained as a Palliative Care Volunteer at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.

Mrs. Bennette was a woman of many interests and enthusiasm-classical music, reading, travel, politics, gardening, cooking, the arts, pampering her family and friends, and most especially swimming in Lake Morey.

A memorial will be on Saturday, December 3rd, at 1 PM in the Bradford Congregational Church.  Burial will be in the Fairlee Village Cemetery.