Joan Bennett Rasmussen

RASMUSSEN JOAN BENNETT, age 87, wife of Raymond Fredric Rasmussen, entered a peaceful eternal rest on Sunday, August 11, 2024 at the Stone Bridge Rehabilitation Health Care Center. Joan was the daughter of Anthony and Maryann Bennett and a lifelong resident of Fairfield. She is predeceased by her husband Raymond who was her very best friend of 65 years. 

She is survived by two sons, Mark Rasmussen, and wife Laura of Danbury, CT and their children, Sarah Rasmussen, Joe and CJ Buonincontri of Southbury, CT, Ryan and Erin Rasmussen, and their children Everly and Jack, of Northbridge, MA, and Jamie Rasmussen of Astoria, NY, and son Bruce Rasmussen and wife Leslie and their sons, Hunter Rasmussen and Jake Rasmussen of Valley Village, CA. Joan is predeceased by her brother Robert Bennett and sister-in-law Lynne Wargo Bennett. Other survivors include nephews, Dr. Robert Bennett, and his wife Dr. Susan Andracchi, and great niece Catherine, and great nephew John, of Wilmington, NC, Michael Bennett, and his wife Albina, and great nieces Lauren and Sophia, of Trumbull, CT, and an aunt, Jean Armstrong Ventriglia, and many cousins. Also, her very close friends Janet Christiano, Joyce Cohen, and Carol Dauber.

Joan retired after 37 years with the Fairfield Board of Education starting at Mill Hill Elementary School and ending at Andrew Warde High School where she loved all the young people. She was an RTM member for six years. Joan was the first woman to be a Fairfield Fire Commissioner and served in that capacity for 10 years. She was a member of the Fire House Feasibility Committee and a member of the Republican Town Committee (RTC). Joan was also a member of a hospice team, served on a community development advisory committee, and was co-founder of the first teen center at Mill Hill School. She was also on the American Diabetes Planning Committee for three years. Joan was a lifetime member of the PTA, a member and rector of the Emmaus youth organization of Our Lady of the Assumption Church and Holy Cross Church, and on the board of directors at Lawncroft Cemetery. 

If you knew Joan, you would know that she was the very best hugger.

Friends may call between 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 27th at the Spear Miller Funeral Home, 39 South Benson Road, Fairfield CT. 

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Wednesday, August 28th at 9:00 a.m. at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, 545 Stratfield Road, Fairfield. Interment will follow in Lawncroft Cemetery. 

The family requests donations be made to the American Diabetes Association.