John Bennett

John Bennett

John Bennett was born on 4 August, 1939 on the old Inglis Farm in Gentry County, Missouri.
He was married on 7 June, 1959 to Helen Jean Gossett at the Berlin Baptist Church in Gentry County, Missouri, and they have two sons:
  • Craig Allen (b. 1960)

  • David Corey (b. 1961)

    • Memories of John Bennett:

    One my favorite memories is about my father, J. C. ( Joseph Curtis) Bennett.

    I owned a 1956 Pontiac in college. Amazingly it would get me over 20 miles per gallon the way I drove it, which was rather fast (enough said). One time my dad drove it for awhile from King City to Columbia, MO., where I was going to school. I was riding with him, and he drove sometimes almost 40 mph! Well he got about 8 miles per gallon. For some reason the faster one drove that car, the better the mileage. I guess that car impressed dad, as when I graduated from college I had enough money to purchase a new Ford station wagon from JC Pettijohn, in King City, and traded the Pontiac in. When I got to my parents dad asked what I did with the Pontiac, which I told him I�d traded it at Pettijohn�s. He immediately phoned Pettijohns and said he�d be there in 30minutes to get and trade in his old(er) Nash (about a 53 model). The story doesn�t end there. I came back to visit, maybe a year later, and found the Pontiac in good condition, except for the steering which was horribly loose. I couldn�t keep it on the highway, so I took it to Pettijohn�s and had them align it. Not very long after that I was driving it again, and it once again drove horribly, so I called Pettijohns and asked "why the front end job didn�t hold up"? Their response "Oh, your dad didn�t like it aligned, so he had us put it back the way it was. You see he wants that front end loose so it�ll follow the ruts in the dirt and gravel roads. He doesn�t drive it much on the highway."

    Both my mother and father were people who read a lot. We had a great library at home. Our evenings consisted of reading books as we didn�t even have a radio until I was 10 years old or so. We got electricity and a gravel road the same year - 1949, when I was 9 years old. Mother passed away in about 1972. My brother Wilton and I thought we should get dad a TV set to help him pass the time. We did, and dad said to put it in the "sitting room" (rather formal front room where couches that were seldom used were kept along with house plants that were cared for, but seldom seen). As far as either Wilton or I could ever tell, dad never turned the TV on himself, though he�d watch it a bit if we were there and turned it on.

    My grand parents Smith (Orville and Edna) lived on a farm by the river just South of Rosendale MO. Granddad chewed tobacco, but never admitted it to Grandma. He kept his "chew" in the barn, and only while he was doing the chores. I recall the 102 river overflowing and just about cutting off our access to the milk barn. Granddad broke a leg felling a tree in about 1950, so Wilton went to stay with them to do the chores, etc., and he attended Rosendale school for at least one semester. Grandma and Granddad frequently had the darndest arguments. I don�t remember over what, but I do remember it was more to antagonize the other more than anything else. I think it was their form of entertainment. Grandma grew some of the best African violets in the country and took them to the annual flower show in Rosendale. Kind of like us going to the American Royal these days!

    I don�t recall any great grandparents. I recall some Tolles. That�s on my Grandmother Smith�s side. Seems like maybe it was her mother I recall, but surely it was more a sister (???). Anyway this old lady lived with 2 other old maids (maybe her sisters) in Rosendale. I recall visiting them a couple of times, but was too small to understand who they really were. All three were very small individuals, yet my grandmother was probably 5�7" and weighed a good 175 pounds.

    On the Bennett side for Grandparents, again I don�t remember any Great grandparents of Bennett lineage, and can�t say I recall the Inglis� either, though my father rented a farm from them from the time I was born until I was about 2 or 3 years old. They must have passed away about the time we moved to the farm just East of my Grandfather, Andrew Bennett on the Andrew/Gentry county line. I do recall a tornado going by the house, and a rooster that (I thought) attacked me while we were at the Englis farm (that was about 6 miles South of the Bennett homestead, and just North of Union Star).

    Grandmother Bennett wore her hair in a "bob", and was always frail when I new her. Though deeply religious, I never knew either of them to attend Star Chapel, yet I know there were significant gifts made to the church from them. In her last years, Grandma Bennett had low blood pressure. The doctor prescribed a glass of red Mogan David wine each evening. We all wondered how she�d take to that, since they were so against drinking. Well, if it was prescribed it must be good appeared to be her slogan. And if one was good, maybe two would be better! (Don�t think she ever got drunk, but she did tone down the anti-alcohol talk!). When Granddad was 92-93 years old I was present when Darrel Guest was putting in a pond West of the Bennett house. This was the only pond Granddad ever allowed on his place, since he had the best water well within 30miles. Darrel and some of the other younger men were complaining about how difficult it was to set fence posts around that pond, since it was so dry. Granddad looked up, said" "Hmmph" give me that spade, and I�ll show you how to dig a post hole"! Which they did, and he did�in about 5 minutes! Then sat down without breaking a sweat. The men looked at him in awe, as it was taking them at least 30 minutes to dig a hole! Granddad called my dad one day when he was about 94 or 95 and suggested that maybe he should go to the nursing home in King City, so folks wouldn�t worry about him in the winter. Dad agreed, and they both sold their farms to Dean McCrea who has been the King City grocer for years. Shortly after Granddad moved to the nursing home, my dad moved to Kansas City to be nearer a lady he�d met on a tour to Europe a few years before. They later were married, which solved two loneliness problems. Granddad always maintained the King City Manor was the finest place for him. He called bingo for them each week up until a week or so before he died at the age of almost 105 years old. He was born in 1882, before the electric light bulb was invented!

    And while I have the last opportunity, there�s the story of Wilton and I having a disagreement about something, which I don�t remember, but he "shot" me in the finger with a BB gun! Now I understand there�s other versions of that story that have gone around, but right now I�ve got the last say!

    I was always on the short end of fights with Wilton, at least until I was 15, and for reasons that are another story, I engaged in one "golden glove" match in Bethany MO. While I technically lost the fight( according to the rules), my opponent, and I guess the crowd, said I really beat him to a pulp in our 3 three minute rounds. I found out the guy I fought was the "tough guy" of Bethany. Thereafter no one in King City wanted to take me on. Back to Wilton. After that fight one night, Wilton was egging me on at the supper table, so I invited him to go outside to finish it. I told him, that If I could do as well as I did with that "thug" from Bethany, that he shouldn�t be too much trouble. Well, the whole family followed Wilton and I to the front lawn, at which time Wilton smiled and said "I�m not going to fight you. I�ve known you could beat me for a long time, but you didn�t know it until now!" Dad and mother just laughed, as I guess they knew it too. For the record, by that time I was at least an inch taller, and out weighed him by 30-40 pounds. I�d grown up and hadn�t noticed, and Wilton was smart enough to make me realize it.
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