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.
After the death of Mildred in 1949, Jari went to live with her Aunt Marguerite Bennett Sigal and Uncle Albert Sigal in California. Donald farmed in Dell City, Texas until 1966. During this time he also sold farming equipment for International Harvester. He was briefly married to Frances Kyle from 1952 to 1953. In 1954, he married Ruth Kaechele . She was born February 14, 1925 in Moline, Michigan. She and Donald had two sons, Donald Jr. born December 12, 1954 and Joseph born January 23, 1956. Ruth and Donald divorced in 1966. The farm would be lost to two seasons of hail in 1966. Ruth died September 30, 1984 in El Paso, Texas.
On April 1, 1975, Donald married Ellen Light whom he had known as a child in Mexico, and growing up in El Paso. They remained in El Paso, Texas. Donald died in 1984 in El Paso and is buried in the Masonic Cemetery in Las Cruces, NM. Ellen died in El Paso in 1987.
From the guide to the Donald Casad Bennett family papers, 1873-2004, (New Mexico State University)
