John D. Bennett was tinkerer, inventor and storyteller
DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE EDITOR
MARBLE FALLS — While John D. Bennett fancied himself an inventor (he did hold 65 patents), the Marble Falls man definitely enjoyed spinning a yarn or two. And that only served as a warmup.
“There never was a person who lived who had so much fun growing up and doing the things I’ve done,” Bennett said in November from his Gateway Villa apartment. “I just have so many stories.”
Bennett shared a bulk of the stories in his autobiography, “Oh No! Not That!: Life of John D. Bennett, Inventor and Artillery Captain.” The “Oh No! Not That!” he attributed to his wife, Wynona, who would often quip those words as Bennett tackled another project or invention.
Bennett passed away April 14, 2014, at 96. He managed to sneak in one more birthday April 13 with his family before moving on. And, knowing John, he was likely sharing stories with them.
OBITUARY: John D. Bennett, 96, of Marble Falls dies April 14, 2014
In fact, it’s a good bet John is still standing at the Pearly Gates as he tells story after story to St. Peter and all the other angels sent to greet him. Wynona’s probably standing just on the other side, smiling and patiently waiting, because, after all, it’s just the way John was.
John grew up on a farm outside Derby. As a farm boy, he said he failed miserably. He even plotted a way to get his dad to get him off the tractor and out of the field by messing up a bit of plowing. The tactic worked, and John found himself under the tutelage of the local farm handyman Concho Valdez.
Where John might have failed as a farmer, he excelled as a tinkerer and inventor. John honed his inventing and engineering skills on the farm and community as he rebuilt a series of Ford Model Ts and, possibly, the predecessor of what would become the power take-off. He and Valdez didn’t know anything about patents at the time, and, as word spread about the device, tractor companies sent representatives to study it.
By the time John headed for Texas A&M University, where he earned a mechanical engineering degree, he probably had already collected enough stories for most people to last a lifetime. But a few years later, he was fighting in World War II as an artillery officer.
“There’s a lot of stories you never read about in history books that happened over there,” John said. “But they happened because we were there.”
While history books and lessons typically focus on the big picture, John shared stories of a more personal nature. His stories recounted the daily lives of his unit and the men with whom he served.
In 1941, John and Wynona Louise Melton married. They would spend 64½ years together, making memories and creating stories of their own until her death in 2006.
After the war, John went to work in the oil industry, where he developed equipment, tools and techniques for the business, many that are still in use today. His work earned him more than 60 patents. Even after his retirement, John never quit tinkering and inventing.
In his Gateway Villa apartment, John kept working at solving problems and researching. If he encountered a problem, he wanted to solve it. That was just who he was.
And if you stopped by, John was more than willing to visit with you. Maybe you stopped by for a few minutes to say “hi,” but it’s a good chance the next time you looked at the clock, an hour or two had slipped away as you became lost in John’s stories.
“Yeah, I got a few of them,” John said back in November about his stories.
Storyteller, inventor, tinkerer, family man and soldier are just some of the ways to describe John. One thing for sure though that sums him up, however, is he was darn interesting.
daniel@thepicayune.com