Edna Bennett Pierce

CENTREVILLE – Edna Bennett Pierce, age 90, passed away peacefully on July 22. She was born in Beaver, Pennsylvania to Metallurgy Engineer Karl F. Peterson and former South Dakota teacher Alice Gordon Peterson – a melding of Swedes and Scots. The Peterson family was active in their church and community and instilled the values of respect and caring for all, as well as the importance of a good education.

Edna was a dedicated Penn State alumna. Graduating in 1953 with a degree in Nutrition and Home Economics, she was a member of the “Famous 500” – the first freshman class of women admitted to the main campus of the University following WWII. It was there that Edna met her future husband, C. Eugene Bennett, a graduate student in Analytical Chemistry.

After their marriage, Edna and Gene moved to Michigan, where Gene finished his PhD and Edna worked as a nutritionist for the University of Michigan. Next stop – Dayton, Ohio – where Eugene served in the Air Force – and Edna and Gene welcomed the first two of their six children. After his military service, Gene accepted a job at the DuPont Experimental Station in Wilmington, but after several years, left to found (along with Frank Martinez and Aaron Martin) F & M Scientific Corporation. Edna and Gene expanded and raised their family there, in Kennett Square, PA, and later, in Centreville, DE. Married for nearly forty-three years, Edna, her beloved Eugene, together with their six children, shared an adventurous life at home, across the country and abroad.

Edna loved nature and the beauty of the landscape around her – and cultivated that love within us. Throughout much of her life she enjoyed and involved us in gardening, growing a wide variety of vegetables, and creating magnificent flower beds surrounding our home. She supported us in nurturing our ever-changing menagerie of pets and wildlife. She encouraged us to enjoy the great outdoors and led by example: swimming (many summers, a mile a day) and hiking through the fields, woods, and creek. She reveled in spotting great blue herons and egrets on the pond – and recently, most majestic of all, the nesting bald eagles in one of the tulip poplars. Edna hosted treasured annual picnics for Silverside Church, West Virginia University and Penn State each summer, and many other events year after year.

Faith, family, friends and fostering a vibrant and resilient community were the most important things in Edna’s life. She and Eugene felt strongly that a good well-rounded education can help anyone, and everyone develop their full potential, so together they contributed their time and resources to their beloved Universities – Penn State and West Virginia University, as well as to the University of Delaware, the Delaware Symphony, WHYY, and many other organizations.
After Eugene passed away, Edna remarried in 1997, to a kind gentleman from Kennett Square, Augustus Duer Pierce, Jr. (Bud), co-founder of Financial House in Centreville. Together they shared a second, but very different, happy marriage of 25 years. Edna was a 25-year cancer survivor. Bud was a vital partner in this success. Together Edna and Bud enjoyed wide travel in the U.S. and abroad, and, closer to home, Penn State football games. Edna felt fortunate to have been blessed with marriage to each of two supportive and beloved partners.

Edna’s surviving family include her husband, Augustus; her children Karl E. Bennett & Kristin Anderson Bennett, Linda Bennett Frick & Charles J. Frick, Jr, David E. Bennett, Susan Bennett Hoopes & Albert Winner, Carol I. Bennett, and Alice Bennett Messick; Bud’s children Augustus Duer Pierce III, Felicie A. Pierce, and Laurie B. Pierce; 15 beloved grandchildren and 10 adored great-grandchildren, as well as many dear cousins, nieces, and nephews, and “adopted” daughter, Eunyoung Cho. Edna was pre-deceased by her parents, first husband, brother Karl R. Peterson, and sons-in-law Timothy G. Hoopes and Lawrence Thomas Messick, Jr.
The family extends its heartfelt thanks to Drs. J.G. Lewis, K.J. Schillinger, M.R. Hewitt, S.S. Chang, L. Calio, PA-C, and their staff; as well as the attending and nursing staff at Chester County Hospital – Penn Medicine, all of whom provided superb health care to Edna over many years.
Services will be private. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent to: Silverside Church, 2800 Silverside Rd, Wilmington, DE, 19810; the Delaware Symphony, 100 W 10th St #1003, Wilmington, DE 19801; or WHYY, 150 N 6th St, Philadelphia, PA 19106.

The service may be viewed at https://www.silversidelife.org/celebrations-of-life.