Carlton Lee Bennett

Carlton “Buster” Lee Bennett was born to Evelyn Hurd Bennett and Carlton Posey Bennett on April 30, 1947 in Atlanta, GA. He passed away Tuesday, June 9, 2020 after an ongoing battle with cancer for 20 years. He is preceded in death by his parents and his sister, Rebecca B. Sudduth. Surviving are his sweetheart and wife of 48 years, Susan S. Bennett; his daughters, Robyn B. Ekholm (Aaron), Amanda L. Bennett (Jon Dufault); his niece, Lisa R. Sudduth, and his loving grandchildren, Andrew Ekholm, Brendan Plemen, William Ekholm, Cade Plemen, and Jesse Dufault.

Buster graduated from high school in 1965, and was drafted into the Army in August 1966. Stationed in Texas at Fort Sam Houston, he was trained as a medic and like many young men at the time, was sent to Vietnam. His experiences there brought him to faith and prayer, which got him through the ordeals of war until his discharge in August 1968. For his service, he received the Bronze Star Medal for Meritorious Achievement in Ground Operations against Hostile Forces. It was also where the seeds of cancer were planted within him through the Army's widespread use of Agent Orange.

After the service, he came back to Atlanta, studied to be a dental lab technician at Atlanta Area Tech School and graduated in 1970. He started his own dental lab right away, which he ran for 10 years. Early on, he met Susan Stevens, who was attending college in Chattanooga, TN. They got married in August 1972, moved into the Jonesboro suburbs and Susan started working for the same dentist that Buster serviced. Their first daughter, Robyn was born in 1979 and her sister, Amanda was born in 1982. For various reasons, Buster wanted to change his career, so he moved his young family to Lexington, SC and became a ward clerk at the Veterans Administration Hospital, working his way up to Information Management Specialist and then Assistant to the Regional Office Manager.

Buster was a man of God and a member of Columbia 1st Seventh-Day Adventist Church. While his daughters were young, he served as a Sabbath School teacher for the primary department, a junior class leader, as well as a school board member and chairman. He made many life-long friends while serving as a church deacon and greeter. His favorite past-times were watching classic movies, games shows, and making music tracks to share with friends and family. He loved his family, church, and country. He especially enjoyed his five grandchildren.

In the year 2000, Buster was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma and was given a 5% chance of survival. Alongside the prescribed chemotherapy, he decided to research how to strengthen his resistance against the disease with a stringent regimen of natural remedies. With such, he lived well beyond that of anyone else with the same cancer.

His faith in the Lord and his soon return to take the faithful to heaven was Buster's favorite theme. He closed every prayer, whether at the bedside or dinner table with the phrase, "Please Lord come take us home soon." He always hoped that he would live to see that day. Although he did not realize that hope, we know that we will be reunited with him at Jesus' return.

Funeral services will be held at 12:00 p.m. on Friday, June 19, 2020 at Caughman-Harman Funeral Home, Lexington Chapel. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service at the funeral home.