| Notes |
- Northwest Arkansas Times
May 1984
Brought up in Winslow, he began working at age 15, and worked at various jobs prior to World War II. He was married to Virginia Meredith of Fayetteville, October 19, 1940. A veteran of World War II, he served with the U.S. Army. While stationed in Abilene, Texas, he ran a business and with money saved from this venture, he bought his first real estate in Fayetteville. Following the war, he worked several years in construction, and became involved in commercial real estate.
Among his accomplishments in business include the purchase of the Mountain Inn and the old First National Bank Building, the deveopment of the Colt Square Subdivision and Calahan Mountain, and the renovation of the old Safeway store and Ivey Motor Co. buildings.
He owned extensive collections of antique guns and automobiles, and was considered an expert on the subject of antique gun collecting. In May 1974, he appeared on the cover of "Arms Gazette Magazine", an antique gun collector's publication. His antique automobile collection included several Duesenbergs and Rolls Royces.
Source: Arms Gazette Magazine, May 1974
"Whatever Johnie Bassett does is tied irrevocably to Fayetteville and the memories of a poor kid who grew there during the Depression. Bassett's life story is the kind immigrants relate to as they stare at the Statue of Liberty and await the wealth a new nation offers. Johnie Bassett had that same kind of hope as a youngster. He reached for a star -- and grabbed it."
Source: Man At Arms Magazine, Sep/Oct 1984
JOHNIE BASSETT - Ode to a Bona Fide Collector 1919-1984
In the ofttimes-related fields of antique arms and old cars, the inimitable Johnie Bassett was the ultimate bona fida collector. Literally starting off his working life as a sharecropper behind a mule and a plow, Johnie slowly, surely, and determinedly became one of the giants in both his chosen collecting fields, and if arms and autos he owned over the years were gathered together at one time, the result would be a collection just about unequalled in the annals of American collecting.
1930 Federal Census of Winslow Township, Washington County, Arkansas (12 Apr 1930)
Earl D. Bassett - 38 - M - AR-TN-AR - Head - Farmer General Farm
Mayme - 37 - F - MO-IL-PA - Wife
Lois E. - 14 - F - AR-AR-AR - Daughter
Joe D. - 13 - M - AR-AR-AR - Son
Johnnie E. - 10 - M - AR-AR-AR - Son
Anna L. - 5 - F - AR-AR-AR - Daughter
(Married at 24 & 27)
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Bassett Family Association Database
1919 - 1984 (65 years)