A Tribute to Gloria Bennett, aka TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | OCT 2017 29 By J. R. Roseberry The Bird Lady She was the “Bird Lady,” not like old John James Audubon or local ornithologist Diana Churchill, but like “raising a middle finger and giving you the bird.” That was Gloria Bennett, for many years one of the most familiar and popular senior citizens on Tybee Island. Giving one the bird, either in disgust or insider friendship, is how she earned that nickname. She was known throughout the area for it. Matter of fact, Tybee’s city council once presented her a proclamation and a golden hand sculpture, its center finger extended. To those who knew her she was a joy. They bellied up to be near her whenever she was out and about, which was often. Those who didn’t missed a real treat … a rare genuine human being who had a firm opinion about almost everything and was never shy about voicing it, often for an entire room to hear. She simply had no patience for fools or hypocrites, disdained anyone overly concerned with material things, and preferred the company of the less fortunate. Gloria, generally wearing farmer’s overalls with straps across her shoulders, was an omnipresent fixture for years at every Tybee City Council meeting and at other gatherings of island government and social leaders. She also held forth in her own circle of friends Tuesday evenings, treating folks to drinks, a meal and raucous conversation at Fannie’s on the Beach restaurant overlooking the ocean on the island’s south end. Some were startled when they first heard the colorful vocabulary being spouted by such a diminutive, bespectacled, white haired octogenarian, but most quickly became accustomed to it and just as quickly learned to love this little lady. Beneath all that bluster there beat the proverbial heart of gold. She often went to extraordinary lengths to help islanders in need, most secretly since she never wanted or took credit for her numerous acts of kindness. She often worked with victims of substance abuse and was instrumental in getting the YMCA to come to Tybee, later serving as a member of its board. She also volunteered as a stalwart supporter of the Tybee Lighthouse and the island Historical Society. Gloria lived alone in a townhouse on Tybee’s north end, just up the street from the lighthouse, after first visiting in 1987 and falling in love with the place. After that visit, she returned to her home in Chicago, packed up and, with her husband Douglas in tow, moved to Tybee where she remained for the next 25 years. She called those years the best in her life. Douglas was enamored of the island as well and spent hours swimming offshore, often with dolphins. He claimed he once ventured out too far, became exhausted, and was escorted back to shallow water by his dolphin friends. After Douglas died a dozen years ago, Gloria was convinced that one of her favorite cats, the one that sat beside a window in her bedroom overlooking the ocean, was really the spirit of Douglas, watching for his dolphin friends. She developed a number of debilitating physical problems several years ago and was forced to leave her cherished island and the numerous friendships she formed, moving into a nursing home in Duluth, GA, just outside Atlanta, to be near her sons, Rick and Scott. A third son, Jeff, lives in South Carolina. Late this summer she took a turn for the worse and was placed under Hospice Care which, according to Rick, proved a blessing by making her final days peaceful and pain free. She passed away on Sept. 7. My guess is that she might have observed shortly thereafter: “I finally flew the damned coop!” That would be like the Bird Lady. Gloria was 92 years young. The family plans to hold a private ceremony at her birthplace in Minneapolis, Minn.
20591TB
To see the actual publication please follow the link above