Pa

My "Pa" went to be with the Lord last Sunday, May 15th.

The following is summarized from his oral history, recorded in 1996 and 1997.

Willard B. Bennett was born in Fort Worth on September 15, 1928. His parents were Noah Lee Bennett, born May 15, 1903, and Addie Isabelle Kitchen, born March 16, 1907.

Pa's parents were staunch Baptists, so he and his sister Jane, born exactly five years to the day after his birth, were raised in the Baptist church. When he was in 5th or 6th grade he won the Fire Prevention Essay Contest. In junior high, he entered the State Class B Ready Writer's contest, winning at every level up until the state level in Austin, which he also won! His topic was, "How I Can Help Win the War." During high school, he enrolled in ROTC to avoid taking P.E., and that decision launched his ROTC career which continued through college. 

The war ended with the dropping of the atomic bombs in August 1945, and Pa registered for his first semester of college at North Texas Technical College (now UTA) on his seventeenth birthday that year. He hitchhiked to college in Arlington from Fort Worth every day. He typically took 18 to 20 semester hours at a time, including ROTC, toward his degree in engineering. Graduating with an associate in science degree after two years, he went down to the University of Texas in the fall of 1947, majoring in aeronautical engineering. The Army and Air Force ROTC opened that semester, so Pa enrolled in the Air Force ROTC. While at UT, Pa lived with a Catholic and became friends with another Catholic, so the Catholic church intrigued him and he converted to Catholicism. Pa went to all the home football games, even though he was never much of a football (or sports in general) fan. Pa received a second lieutenant's commission in the Air Force Reserve in May of 1949 and graduated with honors in May 1950 with a B.S.in Aeronautical Engineering.

Pa interviewed with Consolidated Vultee and was offered the position of engineering draftsman A, starting at $1.65 an hour. He started working just a few weeks before North Korea invaded South Korea. He first worked on the B-36 program and also on Ficon (fighter reconnaissance), and later worked on the YB-60. He lived at home during this time, paying rent to his parents.

In the spring of 1952, Pa first laid eyes on Barbara Anglen, a high school senior, at the Catholic Mardi Gras. Barbara was the queen of Mardi Gras and when she was presented, Pa joked to his friend Pat McDermott, "Someday I'm gonna marry that girl." Pa was active in the Catholic Youth Organization and became acquainted with Barbara at various events that spring. At some point they realized that they had the same birthday, September 15th (also Pa's sister Jane's birthday!), and they began dating. In June 1952, Pa reported to active duty with the Air Force at Lackland AFB, where he spent six weeks. He was given a delay in route between leaving Lackland to report to Keesler AFB, so he drove to Fort Worth, bought rings and asked Barbara to marry him at the Botanic Gardens. Pa was 24 years old and Grandma was almost 18. They hardly knew each other and were obviously at different points of maturity, but so it was. 

Pa went to Keesler AFB to train in the Sets portion for airborne avionics. He saw Barbara only once between their engagement in August and their wedding on December 29, 1952. Grandma joined Pa in Biloxi and they lived in an apartment until May of 1953, when Pa completed his training and received orders to go overseas. Grandma was already pregnant with Lynn, who was born in October after Pa left in June for what he expected would be a full year's deployment. He went to California by train and received orders to depart on the General M.C. Meigs, a Navy troop transport. By the time the ship reached Japan, the armistice had been signed. They had a few hours' free time so Pa and some friends took a train to Nagasaki to see firsthand the remaining evidence of the A-bomb drop eight years prior. He ended up in Niigata for seven or eight weeks and was then sent home by mid-September. He out-processed and was separated from active duty.

Lynn was born in October and Pa went back to work at Consolidated Vultee on the B-58 program. Grandma was almost immediately pregnant again with Nancy. Pa and Grandma bought a house in July of 1954 for $10,750. Nancy was born in November. In January of 1956, Tony was born, and my dad, Andy, was born in March of 1957. Later in 1957, Grandma's stepfather Grady Robinson, a fireman on a freight train, and the engineer were both killed in a tragic accident. Their train hit an asphalt truck that had stalled on the track. Grady attempted to jump but was killed instantly. My great-grandmother Helen didn't even know how to drive and was caring for her oldest daughter Margaret, who had Down's Syndrome. 

Pa and Grandma and their four children were outgrowing that first house, so they moved again to a new 3BR 2BA home in the summer of 1958. Kay was born in October 1958 and Barby in November 1960. In April of 1962, Tony was having surgery when Grandma went into labor with Dan, who was born the night after Tony's surgery. Around Christmas that year, they moved again to the 5BR 3BA house on Worrell where they lived until just recently. Pa began working on the F-111 program at what was then General Dynamics. Janet was born in June 1964 and Jennifer in April 1966. In 1968, Pa began to work with Australian Air Force on their F-111C aircraft program.

In 1972 Grandma left Pa and they were divorced. This was the worst event of Pa's entire life and he regrets that it separated the four older children from the five younger. Pa made good money but he supported a large family and had to pay child support for the younger five who remained with Grandma. He remembers a specific time that my dad was going on a local band trip and Pa gave him a dollar to buy his lunch. Dad got in the band director's car and the director said that everyone would need to kick in for gas, so Dad just gave him his dollar and went without lunch.

Grandma married George, who was in the Air Force, and they moved to Minot in 1974, which was another huge blow to Pa. They took the five youngest children with them. Pa met Betty within a month after they left, which he says was a "great salvation for [his] mental attitude and well being." At Christmas of 1974, he and Betty met Grandma in Grand Island to pick up the kids for Christmas in Fort Worth, but that was the only Christmas trip they were able to pull off. Pa married Betty, my "Granny B," in June 1975. She had two sons, Clay and Clif. A couple of years after they married, Pa converted from the Catholic church and became a member of the church of Christ.

Pa's father Noah Lee, whom his grandchildren called "Beets," was found dead in September of 1984. Pa said in his memoir, "I was thankful that he went quickly and quietly in his sleep. He didn't live to undergo the agony of Mother's many long years in the nursing home... I just pray to God that I won't have to undergo that kind of a long, lingering stay in a nursing facility. I would much rather have a quick, quiet death like Daddy did in his sleep due to his heart. That is, by far, the best way to go..."

My Pa went quickly and quietly at the age of 87, surrounded by several of his beloved children and his wife of almost forty-one years. They were praying and singing as he left this earth. Pa was so dear to all of us and beloved for various reasons. I can't say enough about the man of honor and integrity that he was, and I know that he is the reason my dad turned out to be such a man. 

Pa's final words in his memoir, written when he was only 69, follow.

I love all of you dearly, I'm so proud of each of you. I'm proud of all my grandchildren. I look forward to many more good years of enjoying the fruits of a large and loving family. Thank God for all of you, and I love you all.