Six weeks after being booted out of the U.S by the Department of Homeland Security, John and Tricia Bennett have three words for Uncle Sam:
“God bless America.”
The Bennetts operated Polly’s Pantry and Tearoom in Wildwood for nearly a decade. Then, in April, they were told they had two weeks to leave the country because their E2 visas would not be renewed.
“We’re not bitter, we place our faith in God, and we still love America” said Tricia “Polly” Bennett. “When I was a little girl growing up in England, America was my dream. I always wanted to live in America. For 10 years, my dream came true.”
She and John are currently here for 12 weeks on a tourist visa. They are selling off everything they own in the States, including their house in Leesburg; items in the Tearoom, and their beloved Tearoom itself. The sale of tea memorabilia and books will be open to the public, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. The Tearoom is located at 819 S. Main St. — near U.S. 301 and State Road 44.
“It’s great to be back in America and near The Villages; it feels like home,” John Bennett said. “Our main hope now is that someone will buy the Tearoom building and keep it as a Tearoom. We believe in our hearts that the people in The Villages will support it.”
There have been some adjustments since coming back. John said they left in such a hurry, the couple forgot about a couple pounds of ground beef in their car, where it stayed for five weeks.
“When we opened the car door, it smelled terrible,” John said. “Then the car wouldn’t start; the battery was dead.”
Despite such drawbacks, the Bennetts have been touched by the response from their many friends and Tearoom fans in The Villages.
“The people in The Villages are so loving and giving,” Tricia said. “We’ve been getting messages, emails and calls. Everyone is telling us how much they’ve missed us.”
The feeling is mutual.
“I can’t tell you how much I miss this place and The Villages,” Tricia said. “We were here for 10 years. We made so many friends. It will always be a part of our lives.”
Donna Kagin lives in The Villages and seemed to speak for many Villagers when she previously told Villages-News.com:
“I think Polly and John Bennett represent what is best about America. I just can’t believe the way this country is treating Polly and John. You don’t expect that to happen in America. John and Polly run a business, but everything they do is from the heart.”
Regardless, they must and leave and in addition to The Villages, the Bennetts also long for Florida sunshine.
“When we got to England it was cold, dark and rainy,” Tricia said. “Everything in England seemed so small; the streets, the cars the apartments. It was like Toy Town.”
John Bennett said going to England was like being, “in a strange land. It wasn’t home. We invested our hearts in America.”
The people they met and talked to in England, could not understand the Bennetts’ treatment by American authorities.
“It’s hard to figure out and people over there were shocked,” Tricia said. “We met one lady in England who said we could come and live with her.” The Bennetts eventually hope to live in Spain.
They are still coming to terms with being forced to leave.
“We ran a business, we employed people, paid taxes and Social Security – we followed all the rules,” Tricia said. “Then, one day, we’re told we had two weeks to leave.”
They would have become American citizens but it was “impossible, unless I divorced John and married an American,” Tricia said.
She added they will receive nothing in retirement benefits from the U.S. after paying Social Security taxes for 10 years.
“We weren’t immigrants,” John said. “We were here running a business. We were planning to stay here the rest of our lives.
Basically, Tricia said, the couple has been living out of their suitcases. “In fact, I lost my suitcase on the flight home to England,” she added. “Everything happens to us. But at least they found my suitcase.”
All this has taken a toll for the couple.
“This is an emotional roller coaster – all we can do is live each day as it comes,” added Tricia, a published author of four books who is working on her autobiography.
“I cried when we left America and closed the Tearoom,” she said. “But I know most of the people in America are good people. I remember the first time I drove in The Villages and saw Spanish Springs. I started crying and told John, ‘this is where I want to be.’ Now, we’re gone.”
But one article of faith remains for John and Tricia Bennett.
“We still believe in America,” she said.
