Carveth Whitfield Bennett, Sr.

Carveth Whitfield Bennett, Sr., 93, a resident of Hixson, TN & Trenton, GA, passed away on Sunday, January 22, 2023. A humanitarian, structural engineer, military serviceman in Ohio National Guard 37th Infantry Buckeye Division, devoted husband, father, grandfather, and godfather, Mr. Bennett was known to all as “Car” or “Carv.” He was born in Oak Park, Cook County, Illinois on April 17, 1930 to Elliot Chalmers & Ella Annette Bennett. In 1936, his father, a career military office with rank of Captain, moved with his family to Cleveland Heights, Ohio, where his father took a job with a Chicago, IL subsidiary of McGraw-Hill publications called Brown-Heywood, publishing magazines in the early days of the residential and industrial electrical industrialization of America, founding the Electric Light & Power and Electric Dealer Magazines. In 1938, his father moved his family to Bedford, Ohio. While living in Bedford, his father purchased a 180-acre apple, grape, and peach farm along Lake Erie in Harpersfield County, where young Carv and his two older brothers, Chalmers & Chick lived and worked during the summer months in their teens. After graduating from Bedford High School, Mr. Bennett following his brother Chick, attended Case Institute of Technology, Western Reserve Cleveland Ohio where he studied Civil Engineering. Then, after short service in the Ohio National Guard’s 37th Infantry Merchanized Buckeye Division (never activated) during the Korean conflict, he married Betty Dean Ozbolt from Eva, Alabama. They were married in Geneva, Ohio in October 1952. Shortly afterwards, they moved to Madison, Ohio where their children were born. Daughter, Carla Joan Bennett, 1954, daughter, Barbara (Barb) Elaine Bennett, 1959, and son, Carveth (Corky) Whitfield Bennett, 1960. In 1965, Mr. Bennett’s wife, Betty, mother of their three children, passed away of cancer at age 35, leaving Carv a widower, to raise their three children. Mr. Bennett, first working for a few years in the building industry on major construction operations in Cleveland, Ohio, served as president of a labor union and head of local AFL. Further on, Mr. Bennett, with his son Carveth, Jr., started their own engineering business. For a few years in the 1970’s, with his grown children, ran a Western Auto business in Trenton, Georgia. Mr. Bennett retired at the age of 85, continuing to work as an independent consultant for several more years. Mr. Bennett was a devoted husband and father. Early in his life, his steadfast passions were his family, wife, & children. He loved fishing trips with his total family. The most memorable trips were many long vacation fishing trips to Canada, including father & son trips. Mr. Bennett assisted the sheriff associations and largely contributed to the construction of a home for homeless boys among other social causes. He is now survived by his three children, Carla, Barb, Corky, and his grandson, David Kesler, & granddaughter, Damaris (Michael) Kesler Lewis. Mr. Bennett was the last surviving member of his father’s family. Funeral services will be held on Friday, January 27, 2023 at 3:00 p.m. in the funeral home chapel with Pastor Eddie Cantrell officiating. Interment will follow in Lake Hills Memorial Gardens. Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society or any Sheriff’s boys home associations. Online condolences may be shared at ryanfuneralhome.net. The family will receive friends Friday from 10:00 a.m. until the funeral hour at Ryan Funeral Home & Crematory, Trenton, GA.

Carveth Whitfield Bennett, Sr.

April 17, 1930 - January 22, 2023