David Bowie Benett was born on 11 June 1919 in Lavaca County, Texas.
2 He and
Nellie Britt were married in 1941.
1 He died on 18 January 1988, at age 68, in Houston, Harris, Texas.
1,2 He was buried in Mission Burial Park South, San Antonio, Bexar, Texas.
21 David Bowie Benett was a Regional Manager in Southern Pacific Railroad.
1 Dad's childhood was in or about Lavaca County and San Antonio. Lived on a farm or dairy, help raise younger brother and younger sister. Living on a dairy, north of San Antonio he met an old man, Jeff Smith (who was famous because he and his brother were captured by Indians as youths). They lived with the Indians for several years before being traded back to the "whites". Jeff Smith related many true Indian stores to my Dad and gave him an understanding of the truth of how the savages lived. He attended Mark Twain Jr. High, and Jefferson High School in San Antonio. He ran track in school and the football coach decided to bring in a few "fast" track players but Dad learned that football was not for him after the opposing team ran across his back in a game. He enjoyed fast pitch softball as a teenager and competed in the cities amateur leagues as a pitcher.
As a teenager he worked a carpenter's helper building houses. This was with hammer and handsaw, as they did not use power tools. His mother died when he was about 20. Dad joined the Texas National Guard November 25, 1940 as a way to earn money. Married Nellie Britt in 1941. He was in the Infantry, Private First Class, height 5'9" weight 139lbs. His civil occupation was listed as file clerk. Education level was two years of high school.
After the Pearl Harbor attack, the National Guard was activated. Dad entered as a private and was promoted to staff sergeant after training. He was in the Signal Corp. and was very good at sending messages by Morse Code. He was stationed in Louisiana, New York, North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France, and Germany. He received a "battlefield" commission as a Second Lieutenant and was later promoted to First Lieutenant. During the war he also sent money back ($15 per month) for younger brother Jim and sister Gladys who were still in school as the family barely had money to get by.
After being discharged, he returned to San Antonio looking for work, he found a job as warehouse stockman for Southern Pacific Railroad. This was a hard, dirty job stocking parts after being an officer in the army (but no one was shooting at him). He continued to work for the "railroad", advancing up the ladder until he was "regional manager" and retirement. After the war he built their first house in San Antonio from money saved and by buying a few materials each week and with the help from other family members. But it developed structural crack because they could not get steel rods for the concrete after the war. The first house was sold and another was built from wood. It was sold and a duplex was bought at 1002 W. Gramercy in San Antonio in 1953. In 1960 my father was transferred to Houston, we followed in 1961.
Living in Houston, he became member of Church of Christ, and served as an Elder for several years. He and Nellie moved to Pine Bluff Arkansas about 1967 as he was promoted in the railroad, but several years later returned to Houston.