From Dick Bennett's good friend, Dennis Maier

"To all of the Oldgas community,

Regarding the passing of our friend and mentor, “The Professor”, Dick Bennett, his wife, Judy wanted to give you all her heartfelt thanks for the outpouring of comments, thoughts, and prayers you have sent her way. It means so much to her to know that he meant so much to you. After 39 years with Dick it’s going to be a different world for her. Your response on Oldgas will go a long way to soothe her broken heart. She is not a computer person but we will print out all your comments for her to read. Sincere thanks to you all for chiming in. He leaves a huge hole in our hobby and a huge hole in my heart.
I never got off my dumb butt and got involved with Oldgas but many of you know and love me anyway (ha,ha,ha…shut up) so I asked my friend Rob to post this message for me. Took a couple days for this to start sinking in. I think Oldgas has been a great thing for this hobby and it certainly provided countless hours of enjoyment for Dick. It’s amazing and gratifying to see how many people he affected all over this hobby!
I guess I knew Dick better than most but my story is just like a lot of the comments you posted. In the days before the internet and cell phones I was a new guy with a genuine interest in the hobby and was lucky enough to connect with the most knowledgeable guy in the hobby. He had no patience for wannabee’s and it helped that I was a pump guy but I think he saw that I was a “true believer” and he generously welcomed me and educated me along the way. If he decided you were the real deal you had a true blue friend for life. Then it was up to you if you wanted to accept it. He forgot more than I’ll ever know about this stuff. He was a true freak of nature when it came to retaining detailed knowledge of not just pumps but the entire scope of petroliana and other antique genre. And he was more than willing to share it with you if you were willing to learn. He was relentless and smart in his research and always willing to help a fellow collector if he could. He was also a creative genius and backyard engineer who could take a pile of sticks and rocks and build anything you need. It might not end up pretty but it would more than serve the need at hand. He was brilliant at figuring out how something worked. He was a self-taught craftsman who doggedly strove to master whatever he put his mind to. Maybe he wasn’t the smartest guy in the world but he was usually the smartest guy in the room. He had more common sense than any well-schooled professor and wasn’t shy about dishing it out with blunt and caustic humor. And he was never embarrassed or offended when it was his turn to receive the butt end of a joke. But if you engaged him in a battle of wits chances are you were going to run out of ammunition long before he ever did. He served a stint in the navy and learned how to tie all those fancy knots. Always gave me a hard time about all my ratchet straps. He could do more with a little piece of rope than I could with a whole truckload of ratchet straps.
In the early days we traveled across the country together on Iowa Gas trips. I think back now and am amazed at the amount of ground we covered and places we stopped. It seemed like he knew everybody in the country. Brutal and exhausting trips, but what great memories. He never ran out of stories to tell or knowledge to share. And he never stopped learning himself. Everyone and everywhere has something to teach you if you’re paying attention.
Dick and Judy have always been gracious and generous hosts if you came to visit. I slept on the floor in “Dick’s Room” many times finding it hard to go to sleep for looking around at all the cool stuff packed in there. So I returned the favor and put him up on the floor in my guest room when he would come by for a stopover. That room has forever since been dubbed the “Dick Bennett” suite. A couple of you other guys out there have also slept on that floor.
His genuine enthusiasm and historical interest in the hobby never waned. He was like a kid with the new toy of his dreams when he would finally obtain a piece he had searched for for years. He couldn’t wait to tell you all about it and what the historical significance of it was. He certainly understood the economics of the hobby but it was the history and the thrill of the game that tripped his trigger. He truly loved this wonderful hobby and connecting with all the other people around the country who love it. He always enjoyed taking visitors to the California Oil Museum in downtown Santa Paula, the original 1890 headquarters for Union Oil. A good part of his collection is there on loan to the museum.
For those of you out there who never got past the “grumpy old fart” exterior I only wish you could have known the man I got to know. I will forever be proud and grateful to be called his friend. For some reason he took a liking to me early on and vice versa. I was never looking for something for nothing from him, never trying to turn a buck on him, never presented myself as something other than what I am, and never trying to judge him on anything but the content of his character. I could tell from the moment I met him that he could spot a bullpattie coming from a mile away. We earned each other’s trust and respect and he never ever betrayed that trust. I hope he felt the same way about me. Beyond the gruff exterior I got to know his character pretty well. If I had to choose the guy next to me in a foxhole it would be a guy like Dick. Tough as nails, smart as a whip, steady as a rock, loyal as a bulldog, and funnier than Rodney Dangerfield.
I know a lot of you out there probably have some hard feelings after being subjected to his scathing, cruel, razor whit and I don’t blame you one bit. But you should know that Dick doesn’t blame you one bit either. He knew exactly who he was and never felt the need to apologize for being Dick. Nor should he. He paid his dues and then some. Either you get it or you don’t. He didn’t spend a lot of time worrying about it. If you can roll with it and get over yourself you’ll be fine, if not, oh well, your loss. But know also that he saved his most wicked and embarrassing barbs for himself. His self-deprecating jabs would literally have you rolling on the ground laughing at him. That’s who he was. Brutally honest. He didn’t suffer any fools or fakes. Take a good look at the world we live in today and tell me we aren’t in dire need of some brutal honesty. Take a good long look in the mirror and ask yourself if the guy staring back at you is capable of that kind of honesty.
Many of you may not know that a few years ago Dick fell from a scaffolding and broke his left wrist. The doctors all said it was the worst wrist fracture they had ever seen. A lot of nerve and ligament damage. He never regained full use of that hand. To me it seems that’s when his health started to decline. He wasn’t able to work for a long time and when he finally was able the economy had pretty much destroyed any chance of work. That’s why he had so much time to spend with all you guys on Oldgas and you should know that he truly relished every minute of it. It was the perfect place for him to share his passion and knowledge and stunning personality and stay connected to the hobby. So thanks to all of you out there for keeping the grumpy old fart busy. He enjoyed it immensely. In the weeks and months to come I think the Oldgas community will come to a new realization of just what a treasure we’ve lost. First, Kyle Moore, and now, Dick Bennett. He was one of the people responsible for the creation and continuation of this wonderful hobby. I look around at my collection of junk and can see Dick’s hand in every nook and cranny. I know a lot of you can say the same. So enjoy it. Treasure it and appreciate it and have some fun. And be helpful and kind and generous to each other. It brings to mind a comment made by another great West Coast collector, Roy Reed, when he was selling off most of his great collection. He commented that none of us actually own any of this stuff, we’re just temporary caretakers. It belongs to the ages and now so does Dick. Our hobby has lost one of its original, old school, irreplaceable icons.
As for me, I just miss my friend."


Dennis Maier