Constance Bennett

1947 - 2015

1947 ~ 2015
On January 2, 2015, Constance Mason Bennett passed away from complications arising form a sudden and unexpected cardiac arrest. Connie, as she preferred to be called, was born, along with her twin sister Catherine, to Grant and Varna Mason on February 25, 1947 in Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, where her father was posted as a career army officer. She and Cathy were the second and third children in the family, having been preceded by their older sister (by ten years) Connie had an expansive view of the world, and of life in it, that was spawned by her being part of a military family that traveled and lived abroad and throughout the United States. She lived and went to grade school in Heidelberg, Germany and Washington D.C. (where her father was stationed at the Pentagon), junior high school in Southern California, and high school in Colorado Springs, before coming to Salt Lake City for college. Connie enrolled at the University of Utah in 1965, earning a B.S. degree in psychology in 1970, and was a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and Angel Flight.
On December 30, 1970, Connie married Fred Bennett in the Salt Lake Temple. Days later, she left home for Los Angeles, and dedicated her next three years as the family breadwinner, putting Fred through law school at UCLA. After Fred's graduation., Connie decided to pursue a second degree, in interior design, and was accepted at Woodbury University in Los Angeles, one of the premier design schools in the country. Connie attended Woodbury from 1978-82 and graduated first in her class, winning design competitions in children's furniture and residential design. After graduation, she worked as a commercial designer for a number of well known clients, including Armand Hammer, whose office Connie designed.
With the birth of her daughter Alexandra in 1983, Connie slowed her career and, when her son Jordan was born in 1985, devoted all her time to being a wife and mother. She created a home environment that was fun, highly creative, disciplined, and full of love. Fred and her children-and their friends-- simply loved coming home to Connie. She had a natural ability to create excitement on the spur of the moment, and to talk with her family for hours about anything under the sun. Connie left her children with a wealth of memories that guided their lives and are still remembered with great fondness today.
Connie is survived by her husband, Fred, a senior partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, and her son Jordan, now an MBA student at the Wharton School in Pennsylvania. She is preceded in death by her beloved and extraordinary daughter, Alexandra, who, as a college student, died unexpectedly at age 29 on April 14, 2013.
Connie was truly one of a kind. She was a person of extraordinary physical beauty and enormous charm and magnanimity, with a spontaneous and infectious sense of humor. She was a dedicated wife and mother, with a deep love for and fierce loyalty to her family, and an unshakable commitment to help them become persons of character, and to recognize and achieve their maximum potentials in life. Connie's best asset, however, was her tremendously generous heart, which translated into a strong sense of empathy and tolerance, and a willingness to give her time and resources to people from literally all walks of life. People were naturally drawn to Connie, and in unique and profound ways, she touched their lives on many levels, which is perhaps the most enduring legacy that can be written for her exceptional life.
Funeral services for Connie will be held on Saturday, January 10, 2015, at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, located at 575 Los Liones Drive in Pacific Palisades, California. A viewing will take place from 9:30 am to 10:45 am and the funeral service will commence at 11:00 am, followed by Connie's interment at Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake Village, California. Flowers may be sent to Gates Kingsley & Gates Mortuary, located at 1925 Arizona Ave., Santa Monica, California 90404.