Bennett, Donald Casad

Donald Casad Bennett was born March 30, 1910 in El Paso, TX to Gertrude Casad, daughter of Thomas Casad and Sarah van Winkle, and Joseph Francis Bennett II, son of Colonel Joseph F. Bennet t and Dolores "Lola" Patton . Donald was the youngest of the 5 Bennett siblings, Marguerite, Joseph Francis III, Delmer and Dorothy. Donald spent his early years on the family farm outside of Canutillo, Texas. The Bennett family moved to Mexico City, Mexico and Donald and his siblings attended the school administered by Florence MacPherson Light. The family soon returned to El Paso where Donald attended high school, graduating in 1927. Donald spent 1927-1929 at Texas Western College (now University of Texas at El Paso), followed by 1929-1930 at the Michigan College of Mining Technology (now Michigan Technological University) in Houghton, Michigan. He then attended the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado, 1930-1931. After college, he returned to help run the family farm in Canutillo.

In 1934 he worked as an advertising warehouse manager for the Pabst Blue Ribbon Corporation in San Francisco, and then to the General Brewing Corporation. This same year he married Mildred Clough, daughter of Mary Rex Clough and Frank M. Clough, with whom he would have one daughter, Jari Carol Bennett . Jari was born in Panama City, Florida in 1943. The family then moved to El Paso where Donald worked for Standard Brands, though soon after he returned to farming on a 120 acre farm he purchased in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Around this time, Donald obtained his pilot's licenses. During World War II he was employed by the W. C. Fawcett Flying Service to train Navy cadets in Kerrville, Texas. He was then inducted into the Army at Fort Bliss, Texas and consigned to Scott Field in Illinois and then to South Dakota. After his discharge, Donald returned to Las Cruces and in 1945 he built the Mission Motel in Las Cruces.

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