Patricia Thompson Bennett, 86, a member of one of Daytona's pioneer families, passed away peacefully Saturday, June 4, 2011, at Halifax Hospital. Pat was still enjoying her passions--travel, tennis, and writing--within the last year. She was an avid reader until the end of her life. In 1875 Pat's grandparents, Laurence and Mary Eliza Thompson, and their young children, Lilian and Laurence, came with Mathias Day and a group from Cincinnati. Their third child, Harrison, was born in Daytona. Pat was proud of her history and committed to preserving it through writing, lectures, and work with the Halifax Historical Society. She relates a story of an ideal childhood in Daytona in her books, A Block of Life and I Remember When… Her book, Lilian Place, is a fictionalized story (told by Lucile the ghost) of the family home she inherited when she was a young adult. She raised her three daughters in Lilian Place, now the oldest house on the beachside. Pat attended Sweetbriar College and received a bachelor's degree from Rollins College and a master's degree in English from Columbia University. She began teaching English in 1960 at the newly established Daytona Beach Junior College where she taught for 36 years. Throughout her life, she frequently encountered former students who would tell her how she had contributed to their love of English. She always said she was employed in a field about which she cared passionately. Pat felt that it was a unique privilege to live in the same block of Daytona all of her life. When friends asked about her extensive travel, she remarked, "You would travel too if you lived in the same block all of your life." Pat traveled the world so extensively that there weren't many countries she hadn't visited. She also taught one year at Leysin American College in Switzerland. Her favorite travel companions were her sisters Eliza Mather and Kay Lentz. She took her daughters and grandchildren on many overseas trips. When she wasn't traveling, Pat was active playing tennis and bridge and serving on the boards of the library and historical society. Other affiliations include St. Mary's Episcopal Church (life-time member), Oceans Racquet Club, City Island fiction writing group, Friends of the City Island Library, Halifax Historical Society, Pen Women, Halifax River Yacht Club (life-time member), Heritage Preservation Trust, D.A.R., P.E.O., AAUW, and numerous book clubs. She is survived by three daughters, Victoria Kemp (Louis), Jacksonville Beach; Chesley Bennett, Daytona Beach; and Mary Corliss (Peter), Daytona Beach. Her grandchildren are Adam Fuderer (Ashley), Wesley Crile (Licia), Alison Isabelle (Gregory), Patrick Crile (Mary Beth), and Catherine Corliss, and great grandchildren are Mali and Heron Crile. Beloved nieces and nephews are Barbara Long, Laurence Baggett, Kitten Thompson, Linda Hubert, Rick Lentz, Larry Lentz and many great-nieces and nephews. A memorial service will be held at St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Daytona Beach, at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, June 11, 2011. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the preservation of Lilian Place through the Historical Preservation Trust, 111 Silver Beach Ave., Daytona Beach, FL 32218 www.heritage preservation.org or St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Daytona Beach.