Brian Beninati

Brian Lee Beninati was born with piercing blue eyes on October 7, 1942 in Shelbyville, IL to Tony and Eleanor (Ingels) Beninati.  Brian grew up in Pinckneyville, IL and worked alongside his mom and dad, brother Tony Don and his sister Sugar at the family owned movie theater.  In high school he earned honors and attention as a talented football player where he was Prep Player of the week with the Panthers, a three-year letterman, President of the Black Masque Dramatics Club, and a state level competitive golfer.
Brian's hyperactive youth carried him through the US Air Force, where he served as a Military Policeman.  While stationed at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, MS, he met his future wife and one true love, Jane Oehms.  They were married in Biloxi on February 19, 1962.  They served at Keesler AFB and Craig AFB in Selma, AL.  Eventually they landed in Western Kentucky where Brian excelled as a football and swimming coach and a driver's ed teacher for the Breckenridge Job Corp. He dedicated his time to the Red Cross, creating a handicapped children's swimming program.
Brian would soon move his family to DuQuoin, IL and settled on South Division Street.  He was hired by Arch Coal and worked for them for the next 24 years ending his career as a Corporate Purchasing Agent.  Brian and Jane raised their four children together in DuQuoin. Their home was always open to friends and neighbors. He was loving, side splittingly funny, sincere and hardly ever took a photograph that didn't win an award.  After surviving a stroke, just days before his retirement in West Virginia, he and Jane finally retired in her hometown of Biloxi, MS, living the rest of their lives together where they had started.
While he rehabilitated from his stroke, he enjoyed proving his doctors wrong by outliving an 18-month life expectancy by 19 years.  After a long fight with cancer, Brian passed into the arms of the Lord on Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019, while being cared for and adored by his children.  The space he leaves in their lives is both immense and appropriate.
He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Jane; his brother, Tony Don and his wife Judy; and his sister-in-law Anita McNaron.
He is survived by his sister, Margarite "Sugar" Smith and her husband Phil; his four children, Brian David of Biloxi, MS, Martin Lee and his wife Tammy of Collierville, TN, Christopher Sean and his wife Sharon of Biloxi, MS, Angel (Beninati) Buijs and her husband John of O'Fallon, MO, 11 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.  He also leaves behind his faithful dog, Duncan, who sits today in Brian's yard straining to hear echoes of Brian's voice and laughter, forever stilled, but never forgotten.
The family will have a private memorial on Saturday, April 27 and will welcome family and friends at Brian's home on Tux River Circle in Biloxi, MS from 12:00pm to 3:00pm.
RIEMANN FAMILY FUNERAL HOME, 274 Beauvoir Road, Biloxi, is serving the family.