Bennett Long

After more than two years of prayers, 92-year-old Bennett A. Long, retired long-time Vice President of Long Beach City College and United States Air Force Lt. Colonel, finally got his wish to be reunited with his beloved wife, Betty Jo. He died under hospice care peacefully and comfortably of metastatic brain cancer on June 17, just 38 days after his diagnosis with that disease on May 10, Betty Jo’s birthday.

Looking back at the family history, it is not difficult to locate at least one source of Bennett’s eventual strong will and determination. His Mormon mother Margaret broke with longstanding family and religious tradition when she bravely married the love of her life, Edward Bennett Long, a non-Mormon. This followed Edward’s WWI service that included two offensives in France with the 146th Field Artillery, United States Marines Corp.

After the War, Margaret and Edward headed west in the early 1920s from their Burley, Idaho home with the hope of better jobs, greater opportunities, and a more secure family life in Southern California. Not long after their arrival in Los Angeles, tiny fraternal twins Bennett Alliot Long and William Edward Long were born on January 7, 1924.

Theirs was a typical modest yet enjoyable family life despite the difficult economic times of the era. Bennett’s father Edward secured a job as an electrician with the City of Los Angeles, and his mother Margaret cared for the boys. Bennett and his brother Bill did well in school and excelled in sports that didn’t overly penalize their small stature.

Then, without warning, their lives changed forever when the twin boys were just seventeen. A stroke took the life of their 43-year-old father when they were in the eleventh grade. The boys suggested leaving school to join the military as a way to support the family. Their mother insisted that they stay in school, which, she explained, their father would have wanted.

A new scramble for survival began. The boys ended all extracurricular school activities for part-time jobs to support the three of them. Their mother shifted to full-time work as a florist.

Upon graduating from high school, Bennett sought to fulfill a life-long dream of being a pilot – “a flyer.” Sadly, after enlisting with the Army Air Corp (the U.S. Air Force did not yet exist), he was told he would never serve as a pilot because he was diagnosed with color blindness.

Never one to give up, Bennett searched for other ways he could be “a flyer” with the Air Corp. He first entered a training program to become a meteorologist and navigator for B-29s. He then received flight engineer, gunnery, and mechanics training for the B-17. Flight engineer training for the B-29 followed, and finally came service as a co-pilot for B-24s.

With all of this training and experience, he was eventually promoted to flight instructor in 1944. Ironically, he was only a private first class, with a wealth of knowledge and experience, instructing officers and training the crews that would eventually fly overseas. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 1945.

In 1946, Bennett’s active WWII duty ended, he enrolled at USC, and he made ends meet by working for Prudential Insurance. More importantly, he married the woman of his dreams, Betty Jo Stephenson, that same year. He graduated from USC in 1949 with a Bachelor’s Degree in mathematics and education, and he eventually earned his Master’s Degree in education from California State University Long Beach – institutions he loved throughout his life.

Bennett was recalled to active duty in 1951 for the Korean War, this time serving in the U.S. Air Force, which became a separate service branch in 1947. During 1951 and ‘52, he was part of highly classified crews that trained to bomb key targets if eventually ordered to do so.

Following the end of the Korean War, Bennett returned to a focus on his career. After more time with Prudential and an unhappy brief stint as a middle school teacher, he decided on college teaching as a career.

He landed a job teaching math, engineering, and computer studies at Long Beach City College. He loved teaching at LBCC and everything about the school. Before long, he was promoted to Dean and then Vice President of Business Affairs. He headed up the teams that separated LBCC from the Long Beach Unified School District into its own district (along with his mentors Francis Laufenberg and Odie Wright), expanded the LBCC campuses, improved Veterans’ Stadium, and secured the financial stability of the College when many other community colleges faltered. He served LBCC for 25 years, the last fifteen as a Vice President.

Throughout his career, Bennett proudly continued to serve his country by recruiting Southern California candidates for the U.S. Air Force Academy. Many Air Force Academy graduates from the greater Long Beach area began their Air Force journeys with Bennett’s assistance and advocacy. To support his local community, Bennett served for a decade on the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners, including multiple terms as the Board’s President, and he was a key budget adviser to former Mayor Beverly O’Neill.

During all of this, Bennett and Betty Jo raised three children (all of whom attended LBCC, of course), spoiled and cared for six grandchildren, and lived to meet, love, and enjoy even more great grandchildren. None did it better, or with more love, than the two of them. When faced with life-threatening disease and health challenges to several of their children and grandchildren, Bennett and Betty Jo were there every minute with unwavering care, support, and love.

When their joyful life together was derailed by Betty Jo’s alzheimer’s disease struggle for many years, Bennett stayed by her side every step through her passing, making sure she had the best care available at their Long Beach family home. When he received his own alzheimer’s disease diagnosis, Bennett fought with everything he had, though often wishing he could just be with Betty Jo again.

Bennett is survived by daughter Pam and husband Mike, son Jay and wife Kathy, son Jeff and wife Ellie, grandson Adam and wife Jennifer, grandson Andrew and wife Darci, granddaughters Megan (husband Aaron), Caitlyn, and Jillian, grandson Connor, eight great grandchildren, and one more anticipated great grandchild, Oliver, to brighten the family’s life in just a few months.

Bennett's body will be buried next to Betty Jo’s on July 2nd following a private family ceremony with full military honors. A Celebration of Life will be held for everyone later this summer or in September.

If you are interested in attending the Celebration of Life: please leave a message in the guest book

or contact Jay Long at jay.long@jbl-law.net or call 562-366-1671.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Honor/Memory of Bennett Long to the Long Beach City College Foundation, 4901 E. Carson St., Long Beach, CA 90808, (562) 938-4134, (http://www.lbcc.edu/Foundation); Jonathan Jaques Children’s Cancer Center, Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach, 2801 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach, CA 90806, 562-933-8600 (http://www.millerchildrenshospitallb.org/cancer); the Alzheimer’s Association, 4221 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 400, Los Angeles, CA 90010, 800-272-3900 (alz.org); or the childhood cancer, alzheimer’s disease, or brain tumor charity of your choice.