James Bennett

James L. Bennett, age 80, of Ripon, passed away on Saturday, March 28, 2015 at Barrett House in Ripon.

Jim was born near Garnett, Kansas on December 8, 1934, to the son of Homer and Edith (White) Bennett. He graduated from Garnett High School in 1953. He enrolled at Kansas State University. In 1957, he married Gwendolyn Gates of Kansas City. She died later the same year of injuries sustained in an auto accident. Jim was drafted into the Army and served with the Army Signal Corps at Ft. Monmouth, N.J. After completing his military service, he returned to KSU to obtain his degree in Mechanical Engineering. He later obtained a Professional Engineer’s License.

Jim’s first job was with Beech Aircraft in Wichita, KS. Then he accepted a job with Martin Marietta in Orlando, FL., and worked on the Pershing Missile program for 2 years. Jim married Nancy White in 1963 in Orlando, FL.

Jim then worked at General Electric for 13 ½ years. At G.E. he worked on the Apollo space program (including the Lunar Landing of Apollo 11) as a project engineer leading a group in engineering support of the checkout of the Apollo Command Module. After 6 ½ years Jim transferred to GE’s Appliance Division in Louisville, KY. where he was responsible for the range product design in the startup of a new facility in Columbia, MD. In doing this, he became extremely familiar with the manufacturing process.

He next went to Litton Industries in Minneapolis as a manager of Range Engineering. Jim joined Amana in 1979 and became Chief Engineer for microwave and range design in 1980. In 1989, he came to Speed Queen as Senior Vice President of Operations with responsibility for Manufacturing, Procurement, Quality Assurance and Product Design. He was promoted to Executive Vice President in 1990 and became responsible for the whole Speed Queen operation. He was name President and CEO in 1991. He retired in 1996. After retirement he did some consulting work.

Jim was involved in the community in several organizations including the U.W. Oshkosh College of Business Administration Business Advisory Board, Ripon Community Development Corp. and the Education Foundation of Ripon. He was a member of Trinity Evangelical Free Church and served as an Elder for several years.

Survivors include his wife, Nancy; children, Laurel (Josef) Paul of Magdeburg, Germany, Barbara (Bryan) White of Gallatin, TN, and Miles Bennett of Oshkosh; sisters, Rebecca (George) Price of Wichita, KS, and Martha McDysan of Fredericksburg, VA; brother, George (Claudine) Bennett of Cincinnati, OH; brother-in-law, George (Joyce) White of Kansas City, MO; 3 grandchildren, many nieces and nephews, and great nieces and nephews. Jim is preceded in death by his parents, wife, Gwen, brothers, Howard and Paul Bennett, and sister-in-law, Wilma Bennett.

Visitation for James L. Bennett will be held on Friday, April 3, 2015 from 2-4:00 pm at Butzin-Marchant Funeral Home, 515 Mayparty Dr., Ripon, WI, 54971 and again before the funeral on Saturday, April 4, 2015 from 10-11:00 am at Trinity Evangelical Free Church, 777 Harvey St., Ripon, WI, 54971.

Funeral Service for James L. Bennett will be held on Saturday, April 4, 2015 at 11:00 am at Trinity Evangelical Free Church in Ripon, with Pastor Paul Ethington and Art Volkmann officiating. Interment will follow at Woodlawn Cemetery in Ripon. In lieu of flowers a memorial may be directed to Alzheimer’s Assn, 6130 West National Ave, Suite 200 Milwaukee, WI, 53214.


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