Chapter 10 takes his story from Naperville to Rome, GA, and Chapter 11 (written by Jim's son) finishes his story with Jim's retirement projects and travels from Rome, GA to Scottsdale, AZ.
Chapter 10: Illinois to Rome, GA - July 1985 to 1996
​Chapter 11: Rome, GA and Scottsdale, AZ - 1996 to September, 2013

In 1985, when his contract in Saudi Arabia ended, Jim decided to drive his Volvo to Germany and have it shipped back to the US from there.  So he and Kathryn drove out of Saudia Arabia, going through Jordan, Syria, and Turkey to reach Europe.  This drive would not be possible today, and was quite dangerous even then.  Check out the story here: Driving out of Saudi Arabia - March 24, 1985 to July, 1985

Jim and Kathryn lived in Saudi Arabia from 1977 to 1985, while he was working for ARAMCO.  While living there, they traveled to Europe, China, Africa, Thailand and back to the US.   In these years their first grandchildren were born:  Saudi Arabia - October, 1977 to April, 1985

From 1964 to 1973, we lived in Naperville, and Dad worked for Harza Engineering, traveling to various projects around the world.  In 1973, he moved to Jacksonville, Florida to work for Offshore Power Systems.  These are the years the kids grew up and went to off to college: Naperville, IL and Jacksonville, FL - February, 1964 to October, 1977

The next chapter of Jim's Story takes us to Thailand, where he worked for two years on the Yanhee dam, in the northern part of the country:  Thailand - December, 1961 to February, 1964

Chapter 5 is about our time in Youngstown, NY, near Niagara Falls.  Dad worked there on a large scale power project: Niagara Power Project - Summer 1958 to December, 1961

I updated the page with all of the photo albums on it, adding sample pictures from the albums and summaries of what is in the albums.  Check it out: Jim's Albums

I've added another chapter to Jim's Story.  This features his marriage and early family years, and the beginning of his career: Starting a Family - Fall 1946 to Summer 1958.

A new chapter has been added to Jim's Story, about his Navy service in World War II.  Jim was on board the USS Guadalcanal when they captured the U505, the first German submarine captured during the war.

Announcing a new feature of this website, "Jim's Story".  This page contains the story of James E. Bennett, Jr. in his own words and with pictures from his photo albums and slides.  The story so far gives his family background, including the tale of how the Bennett's came to America, and his own life from 1925 up until he joined the Navy in July of 1943.  Stay tuned for future installments of his story!