Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion One year anniversary of Dick Bennett's passing

Today is the one year anniversary of Dick Bennett's passing

I remember one of the first times we talked about 15 years ago he had seen me post on old gas using my initials "db" he said that those were his and I should not use them on old gas we both laughed pretty good on that one. I don't think I ever did use my initials again.


I was digging through some emails tonight and found this one that he sent me just a couple of hours before his passing.

August 28th 5:54 pm

Dick wrote: Have been very Short winded for couple of weeks & in-between ins. coverage. Medicare starts on Monday & will get in for tests.
Hopefully they can get it figured out


I Wrote: Uncle db what the heck is this short winded thing? You been smoking to much??


He replied: The short winded started just after I Quit smoking. I have been cutting
back over the last year. Use to smoke 1-2 pk a day.


I replied: Let me know about your doctor visit and what you find out.

That is sad, I still miss him dearly. Not a day goes by that I don't think of him.

I miss his humor.. I tried to get him to come to CTO but, he said "I rarely cross the big muddy" Miss ya DB!!

I miss his straight forward answers. Nothing politically correct, just plain old truth. My kind of guy. Paul www.severngaspumps.com

Rob, Dennis, and I were just talking about this at Iowa. I think about him all the time..

Like many others, I was shocked when Dan McGuffey texted me and said DB had died. I was in disbelief, we had been emailing back and forth all evening previous, come to find out it sounded like he was emailing a bunch of us that evening!
I too miss his directness, his no BS and no sugarcoated replies. There are posts almost daily I think, boy, what would DB say to this guy, lol! At first I was the target of those coarse replies, but over the years we became friends. I always said I think Dick was that way to "newbies" especially as he was testing to see who was truly interested in preserving the history and knowledge of what we collect, versus the ones only in the hobby for the money or quick financial gains.
I'm sure he knows there are many of us thinking about him today......
Darin

it's just amazing how many of us were involved in PM's with him when he died! I still have the message and when ever I'm in there cleaning out old messages, I take a moment to go through the whole message and laugh as he was on a roll that day before he passed. I miss him every day.

His humor on a few of the Newbie's...LOL

In memory of him on so many levels..

Miss his help, knowledge, and quick quips.

i can only imagine the time he spent collaborating with everyone... his email & PM box must have been constant with new mail!

sure do miss his PMs... wish i could have met him in person.

I'm going to look in my email and see if I cant find the PMs he sent me 1-yr ago today.

just read thru my old emails, had a good laugh... here's a good one that he sent just a week before his passing (i think it was about someone's posts in the for sale section):

Yes he was at times caustic, abrasive and sometimes too direct for his own good BUT he was at the same time quick witted, funny and endearing. Like all the people above, he was always in touch with us/me as DB, or watching over us as Watchdog 7, so not much on OG got by him. He was always personally very helpful and he even lent a hand.
The site is different to be sure and I imagine the trailer park and Santa Paula is far less interesting without Dick. Judy's life will be quieter and I hope she is doing well one year out!
Rest easy DB-all though I think that would be hard for you to do even now!

I think of DB everyday! Never met the man but conversed with him many times. Since his passing it motivated me to finish the pump he sent me parts for. Of course the parts came with DB's special packing material a bunch of oranges...

DB sent me all the window trim for my Smithway L1 pump. I did not clean or paint the trim pieces so I can always remember when I look at the pump.

DB was a great man for sure. Started doing quart repairs and lidding thanks to him. He will be and is missed for sure.
Still have his emails he sent me. Got one almost every day. That man really cared about the hobby. He loved to give the newbies a hard time just to see where their heads were at.

Dan

I will add my name to those who miss db.

Him and I would send emails back and forth on a pretty regular basis, almost daily... We got to the point where, I decided to make a folder in my emails just for the ones from db so I could keep them separate... I did the same for emails from Paddy, Doug(Blacktee), Oldgas members in general and Veedol_AL...

I wish I had decided to start the folder a few years before, I did...

RIP db!

Hello everyone,

All I can say is Dick has left an empty spot in my life and here on Old Gas. This man was a living legend. We had our falling out but in the end we had become great friends. Whenever I go down to my pump junkyard I feel as though he is still there smoking a cig. and tinkering with pumps next to me. The funny thing is one day I thought I saw him from the corner of my eye down there standing under the awning that he built for me. It was a strange feeling but I felt as though he was there. I visit with Judy often and she is still taking the loss of Dick hard.

Take Care,
Rob

While Dick an I never met personally, we certainly had some lively phone calls . Some of his humor was raunchy , but Dick was a perfectionist and NO ONE could top that . Once again , it was Dick who did the decals for this Model that became known as the Amoco Projek and then, the model was picked up by yet another member here at OLd Gas and became a reference point to restore a REAL Amoco in Roanoke Virginia

I sure do miss the guy along with his humor, knowledge and presence on this site and to the hobby. He was a great guy that I never got to meet in person. It got to the point that he would start sending me PM's and we would talk a little bit, but I would mainly laugh at his humor lol. I miss him. Great guy. RIP Dick.

You know I never got to meet him in person either but I will have to say its odd how someone I only talked through pm messages had such a long lasting impression on me others . I work nights and am a night owl anyways and I could always expect a late night pm message on the weekends and it was usually some crazy sarcastic joke . I miss ol db too. He was the one that gave me the idea to build the eye brow to protect my Sinclair neon that hangs outside , he sure had some great ideas.

A good friend of mine asked if I would like to go out to Cali.on a road trip to deliver parts and pick up a pump. That was my first time I meet Dick Bennett. I made many of trips to his place after that and enjoyed every Trip. He became a really good friend. Like others I think of him every day. He was like family . RIP Dick

I agree with you Paul.

I hope Judy does better this year.

RIP Dick

He was a storehouse of knowledge that cannot be replaced. RIP
Dave

As often as he emailed and PM'd so many people, I wonder how DB ever had time to do anything?

I enjoyed his sense of humor. When a big snow storm would be forecast for my area he'd email me a picture of a snow shovel, or talk about it being 86 degrees in Santa Paula. It was always 86.

And then there were the emails about people. As knowledgeable as DB was about pumps, he was just as good about reading people.
Everyone knows that DB could be hard on people. Especially those that were in the "hobby" for the wrong reasons. What may surprise some is that DB would privately come to people's defense when I was a moderator.

Ahhh, Dick's packing material!!! Oranges or his recycling!! I used to specify the oranges.

One time we traded a bunch of his California Avocados, Oranges, and Lemons and I sent him some New York Cheddar, Maple Syrup, Hoffman Hot Dogs, and Salt Potatoes. He didn't know how to cook the hot dogs the right way!!

Doug did he send you a copy of the xray taken after his fall?

DB was an asset to the hobby. At times he was a grumpy old fart but he told it like it is. A lot of knowledge was lost when he passed. I bought a pump part from him once, sold him some stuff also. I would have liked to have bought something from his collection to set up on the shelf and say that was from DBs collection.

😢😢

Iowa Gas a couple years ago.

I remember him sitting there like that. Right across from our space. I think that is the year he over heated. Miss the old guy!

Wes.... I was there at Iowa that year and met db for the first time in person. I missed the Oldgas picture, but he took my picture later and was supposed to Photoshop me in. I don't think he ever got around to it. I'll always remember him rolling oranges to me from clear across the parking lot.

I met db here on Oldgas years ago. His pump knowledge was incredible!