William E. (Bill) Benet, Jr.'s Obituary
William E. (Bill) Benet, Jr. , 75, passed away peacefully on November 20, 2023, at Haven Hospice Care Center in Gainesville. He had led a life of adventure. He was born in St. Augustine on May 23, 1948, to William E. Benet, Sr., and Annaliese Plaum Benet. He graduated Salutatorian from St. Joseph’s Academy, in St. Augustine, in 1966, and attended the University of Florida, earning undergraduate and Ph.D. degrees by 1977. He and his wife Jan also attended the Universidad de las Americas in Mexico City in 1970, and the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne where he earned a Psy. D. in 1986.
Bill met Jan in 1968 at the old Florida Bookstore in Gainesville, just after a stint as a sponge diver in Tarpon Springs. They were married in 1969 at St. Patrick’s Church. Over the years, he and Jan lived and worked in Key West, Sugarloaf Key, Palm Bay, and Gainesville. They also lived for a year in Kingston, Jamaica, where he completed his doctoral research in 1976 with the Jamaican Movement for Advancement of Literacy (JAMAL Foundation) under an OAS Fellowship. Dr. Benet was then employed with Monroe County Schools as an evaluator of federal programs. Later, after an internship in psychology at the Veterans Administration, he pursued private practice as a psychologist in Gainesville for 33 years, performing clinical evaluations at Charter Springs Hospital, Job Corps, the Achievement Center at North Florida Regional Hospital, evaluations for children’s gifted and learning disability programs, and disability evaluations for the State of Florida. He retired from private practice in 2020.
Over the years together, Bill and Jan enjoyed traveling, biking, scuba and skin diving, boating, chess, Gator football, gardening, writing, music, and book and art collecting. They also took several vacation tours of the South, targeting SEC stadiums, historical Civil War battle sites, and music cities.
Bill was preceded in death by his father, William E. Benet, Sr.; his mother, Annaliese Benet Plant; stepfather Dr. Reuben J. Plant, Jr., and uncle Chester E. Benet, Jr. His beloved Doberman of 12 years, Athena Kree, passed away in 1990.
He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Janis Dilgren Benet, a sister Heidi Magyar and her husband Carl in Crystal River, a nephew Evan Crowe, a niece Lindsay Griffin and her husband John, and grandnephew Will. Other surviving in-laws include Lauri Dilgren Dingess in St. Augustine, and Rik Dilgren and his wife Linda in Charleston, and their children and grandchildren. Other relatives include his cousin Stephen Benet and his siblings and aunt Mary Louise Hayes in St. Augustine.
A mass of Christian burial will be celebrated on Saturday, December 9, 2023, at 11:00 A. M., in the Chapel of Queen of Peace Catholic Church, 10900 SW 24th Avenue, Gainesville, with Fr. Figi George, celebrant. The family will receive friends on Friday, December 8, 2023, from 5 to 7:00 P. M., at the Williams-Thomas Funeral Home Downtown, 404 North Main Street, Gainesville. Interment will be held on Wednesday, December 13, 2023, at 11:00 A.M. in the San Lorenzo Cemetery, St. Augustine. In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to Grow Hub via the Philanthropy Hub: https://www.grow-hub.org/.
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