Texas Bennett

Texas James Bennett, 83, passed from this life to be with his Lord and Savior January 2, 2022, in Amarillo, Texas.  Funeral services will be at 10:00 am, Friday, January 7, 2022, in the Minton Memorial Chapel located in Borger, Texas, with his beloved children officiating. The service will be live streamed and recorded for those who cannot attend in person.  Graveside service will be at 2:00 pm, Friday, at Fairview Cemetery in Wellington, Texas under the direction of Minton Chatwell Funeral Directors of Fritch.

Family will gather with friends for visitation Thursday evening, January 6, 2022, from 5:00 pm until 7:00 pm at the Minton Chatwell Funeral Directors of Fritch,Texas.

On January 23, 1938, in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Herbert Claude (Big Tex) and Mary Edith McKinnon Bennett welcomed their blue-eyed baby boy, Texas James Bennett (Little Tex). He was the pride and joy of his parents.  As a young man he joined his father’s business, “Bennett & Son” running custom combines and crews from Texas to the Canadian border during the harvest season. His family settled down in Eagle Butte, SD where he met and married his best friend, and love of his life, Lois Darlyne Strong. They were married on November 15, 1954 and together they celebrated 67 years of marriage.

In 1971, Tex and Lois, along with their four children, immigrated to Canada, where their fifth child was later to be born. Upon immigration, the family lived in the province of British Columbia, and then later moved to Alberta. Tex had a deep and profound love for the country and people of Canada. His heart for ministry took him across the country from the west coast to the east coast. He spent over 35 years working in ministry and ironwork construction, complimented by his countless, exciting adventures in his beloved Canadian Rocky Mountains.

Tex lived a full life as a tough and tender cowboy, a passionate preacher, a hard-working expert ironworker and crane rigger, an adventurous 4-wheeling, dirt-biking, camping mountain man his children called “Trapper Dad”.  He was known as a great storyteller, a custom combiner/harvest gatherer, a prayer warrior, a best friend, a dog-whisperer, and the list goes on. First and foremost he was a pure-hearted husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather whose only desire was to exemplify the “Father-Heart of God” not only to his biological family lineage, but also to countless others he considered to be his sons and daughters.

He was a man with a heart after God; a minister of the good news of the love of Jesus Christ. He himself did not claim to love “perfectly”, as only our Heavenly Father can, but he loved so “purely” that his family’s lives, and the lives of countless others, have been affected for all of eternity.

He was not a materially wealthy man, but from the abundance of his heart he did not hesitate to lavish others with a wealth of unconditional love and kindness. His intentionality was profound. Every night, he would seek his wife's hand to hold and whisper that he loved her. He took every opportunity to speak the love of Jesus over, and into, the lives of family members, friends, and strangers alike.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his sister Betty Compton, his grandson Nygell Bennett, and his beloved dog, Gus, who preceded him in death by only a few days and was there in heaven waiting to greet him.

Tex is survived by his loving wife of sixty-seven years, Lois, his two sons Jim Bennett and his wife Charlotte of Fritch, TX and Colby Bennett and his wife Jessy of Fritch, TX, his three daughters Cheryl Lynn Hamilton and her husband Brett of Palm Desert, CA, Gaye Lee Newlun and her husband David of Palm Desert, CA and Rae Lynn Snidal of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, his 19 Grandchildren and his 20 Great-Grandchildren.

Family will gather with friends at the Fritch funeral home from 5:00 until 7:00 Thursday evening for visitation.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations to Samaritan's Purse "Freshwater Well Project" in memory of Texas James "Tex" Bennett:

To make donations for U.S. residents, please visit https://sampur.se/3HGv80z

To make donations for Canadian residents, please visit: https://secure.samaritanspurse.ca/catalog/en/Products?pageId=1046

Samaritan’s Purse
PO Box 3000
Boone, NC 28607
828.262.1980 .

The live stream link will become active 5 minutes prior to service time.  At the conclusion of the service the video of the service will be uploaded to this page after funeral services.