Ralph Bennett

Ralph Bennett, 1941-2024

Ralph Bennett’s journalism career took him around the nation and the world – but he was never far from Ligonier.

He died on Dec. 18 at age 83 in Delray Beach, Florida.

The 1959 graduate of Ligonier High School had a career in journalism that spanned four decades. He worked as a reporter for the Greensburg Tribune-Review, the New Haven Register, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the National Observer before joining the Washington bureau of The Reader’s Digest, where he was a senior writer and editor for more than 30 years. He interviewed Martin Luther King Jr., Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford and numerous members of Congress, Cabinet secretaries and celebrities as his assignments took him across the U.S. and to Europe and Central America.

Ralph Kinney Bennett and twin brother Roger King Bennett were born March 3, 1941, at Latrobe Hospital. The twins grew up in Rector with their mother, Virginia McDonald Bennett, and older brother Richard. They attended Valley School and Ligonier High School.

Ralph Bennett enrolled at Allegheny College in Meadville, where, during freshman orientation in 1959, he met Virginia “Ginny” Hein of South Euclid, Ohio. They married on their graduation day in 1963.

While working in Washington and raising a family in Bethesda, Maryland, he was a frequent visitor to Ligonier, where his mother was editor of the Ligonier Echo during the 1970s.

When he retired from The Reader’s Digest in 2002, he moved back to Ligonier and immersed himself in the community and its history. He was a proud member of the Ligonier Volunteer Hose Company #1. He served on the Fort Ligonier board of trustees and authored the book “Ligonier 250: The Fort – The Town – The Valley” to commemorate the fort’s 250th anniversary in 2008.

He was an elder and Sunday school teacher at the Church of Christ at Manor Woods in Rockville, Maryland. When he returned to Ligonier, he was a member of Laughlintown Christian Church. He enjoyed poetry, military history, classic cars and long bike rides.

He had a winter home in Delray Beach and a cottage at Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania, where he regularly celebrated Independence Day and summer vacations with family and friends.

He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Ginny Bennett; son George and daughter-in-law Leslee of Boynton Beach, Florida; daughter Laura Doolittle and son-in-law Glenn Doolittle of Johnson City, Tennessee; granddaughter Paige Bennett; grandsons Sam Bennett, Max Bennett, Brent Doolittle and Aaron Doolittle; and great-grandson Jackson Pomeranz. He is also survived by his twin brother Roger Bennett of New Bern, North Carolina.

A celebration of life is planned for Saturday, January 11, 2025  at 1 pm at the Ligonier Valley High School  with interment to follow at the Ligonier Valley Cemetery.

Online condolences may be made to www.mccabefuneralhomespa.com.