Joan Bennett

1945 - 2021

Born August 24, 1945 Joan Jackson Bennett, native New Orleanian and daughter of Albertha Andry Jackson and James Andrew Jackson, Jr. was called home on Tuesday, November 30th. A graduate of John McDonough 35 and Charity School of nursing, she married and raised two lovely daughters in a quaint shotgun on Pauger Street. Joan was an exceptional LPN for over fifty years having worked at the VA Medical Center, Charity Hospital of New Orleans, the Louisiana Lions-Saints Eye, Ear, Nose & Throat Hospital and retiring from Hedgewood Surgical Center in the spring of 2020. In her spare time she was a published writer producing more than five collections of her short stories as JJ. Haile "the Duchess of Southern Gothic Literature". She was a deaconess of New Mount Era MBC and original member of Fab Five Sisterhood. She was preceded by her parents, sister Marion McWilliams, nephew Hoffshee Ben Yisrael, ex-husband Isaiah J. Bennett, III and brothers-in-law Zachary Bennett, Sr. and Alcide Bennett, Sr. She is survived by her two daughters Skochii Bennett-Polchlopek and Toki Lynn Bennett, her grandson Blaise Michael Bennett, son-in-law Lester Polchlopek, ex-husband Greg Haile, sister-in-law Jennifer Percy, brother-in-law Warren Joseph, and her nephews and nieces: Milton McWilliams, Jr., Miles McWilliams, Sr, Melissa McWilliams, Meidre McWilliams, Michelle McWilliams-Smith and Mitch McWilliams, Sr. In addition to a host of great-nieces & nephews, friends and colleagues. A celebration of her life will take place in late Spring in 2022.