GREAT BEND — Julia Madaleine Gates Bennett, 93, a native of Great Bend, died Sunday at Carleton-Willard Village, a continuing care retirement community in Bedford, Mass., where she had resided since 1999.

Mrs. Bennett was a librarian, beginning her career at the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County, Youngstown, Ohio.

After moving with her family in 1958 to Lexington, Mass., she joined the library staff of Raytheon Corp.'s research division, then in Waltham, Mass., retiring in 1981 as head librarian.

Born Nov. 29, 1914, at Great Bend, she was a daughter of Ralph M. and Ethel N. Zapf Gates. Her father owned R.M. Gates Oil Co., Watertown.

She graduated in 1931 from Carthage High School and received a bachelor of arts degree in history and literature in 1935 from Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Mass., and a master of arts degree in education in 1936 from St. Lawrence University, Canton. She earned a master of library science degree in 1962 from Simmons College, Boston, Mass.

She married Edwin A. Bennett Jr. on Aug. 3, 1936, at Ilion. Mr. Bennett, a copy editor for the Boston Globe and a Lexington Town Meeting member, died Jan. 19, 1978. He had been a columnist for the Watertown Daily Times in 1938.

Mrs. Bennett was an active member of First Parish Church Unitarian Universalist, Lexington, and First Parish Ladies Alliance and a frequent volunteer for the Alliance Clothing Exchange. She also was a member of the Lexington Historical Society, the Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College and Bethany Chapter 343, Order of the Eastern Star, Black River.

Surviving are a daughter, Gretchen M. Blair, Germantown, Tenn.; two sons, Edwin A. III, Whitman, Mass., and David M., South Carolina; seven grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and cousins.

A brother, Frederic W. Gates, and a sister, Evelyn Z. Gates Hurley, died before her.

A memorial service will be at a later date. The body was donated to Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Mass. Arrangements were with Bedford Funeral Home.

Donations may be made to First Parish Church, 7 Harrington Road, Lexington, Mass. 02421.