Wanda Bennett

“God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.” - 1 Peter 4:10.

Loving family matriarch and devoted public servant Eleanor Wandalynn “Wanda” Seabury Bennett passed away peacefully November 12, 2024, in Bossier City, La. Wanda was born February 26, 1937, in Marshall, Texas, to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Seabury. 

Wanda was raised in northwest Louisiana where she was a proud graduate of Bossier High School. She later studied at Centenary College, LSUS, and Bossier Parish Community College. In the mid-1950s, Wanda met and married Ernest “Bo” Bennett, and they soon began raising their family in the heart of Bossier City on Oliver Street. With numerous friends close by in the bustling post-war Coleman Park neighborhood, Wanda and Bo became active in their community and First United Methodist Church of Bossier. While Bo was working for the federal government, Wanda focused her attention on raising their three children: Sherrie, Jeffrey, and Tracy. She was an involved mother who often volunteered as a Cub Scout leader, room mother, Sunday school teacher, and youth group leader. If her community had a need, Wanda was always there to serve.

It was that love of her community that led Wanda to run for the first Bossier City Council in the late 1970s, a position she would be elected to for three terms. After leaving political life, Wanda directed the BPCC JobLink Training Center and was tapped to implement the Bossier Parish 911 system in the early 1990s. During her retirement years, Wanda felt called to serve her community a final time by running to represent the Bossier Parish Police Jury district that included her new hometown of Benton. She served the people of District 3 for three terms until her retirement from public life in early 2020. 

While Wanda often bragged about the accomplishments of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, her family had numerous reasons to be proud of her accomplishments. During her life of public service, Wanda served as president of both the Bossier City Council and the Bossier Parish Police Jury. She was placed in the Bossier High School Hall of Fame, received the Athena Leadership Award from the Greater Shreveport Chamber of Commerce, and served as president of the Bossier Chamber of Commerce. She remained actively involved in the Midyett Sunday School class and choir at FUMC Bossier until recent years. 

Wanda lived a full life surrounded by family and friends who often stopped by for afternoon coffee and a chat. She was a blessing to all and will be greatly missed by those who knew her. 

Wanda is preceded in death by her husband of nearly 60 years, Bo; parents, Robert Seabury and Hallie Bee Stopak; and stepfather, Walter Stopak. 

She is survived by her daughter, Sherrie Yorba, and husband, Mike; son, Jeffrey Bennett, and wife, Sherry; daughter, Tracy Beckett, and husband, Kedrick. Her grandchildren and their spouses: Ashley (Yorba) and Andre Rodrigue, Michael Yorba, Meghan and Justin Bennett, Ainsley and Austin Beckett, and Taylor and Marissa Beckett. Her great-children: Owen and Mary-Avery Rodrigue; Jackson and Jagger Bennett; and Graham and Graycen Beckett. Wanda is also survived by her sister-in-law Mary-Agnes Hazelwood, nieces and nephews, longtime family friend Kent Seabaugh, and her precious canine companion, Sugar.

Wanda’s family would like to thank the staff at the Blake Memory Care Unit in Bossier City for their compassionate care in her final months.