Butch was born on April 18, 1947, in a rural coal-mining community in eastern Kentucky, the eldest son of Geneva (Hall) and Charles Bentley. He spent his childhood in multiple locations including his grandparents’ farm in Kentucky where he attended a three-room schoolhouse and enjoyed riding ponies used in the mines back to their stables at the end of the day with his sister, Patricia (Tish). He moved to Detroit to join his mother and, eventually, the rest of his five siblings. As an advocate of the ‘school of life’ and coming from a single-parent household, he opted to spend much of his school years in more entrepreneurial endeavors. He bought a shoe shine kit and walked from business to business shining shoes to raise enough money to buy himself his first bike at the age of 11. He began working full-time at Lil’ Giant grocery store abdicating his formal education in the 11th grade, but went back to earn his GED and an Associate’s Degree in his early 20s. He met his wife when he was 16 and she was 15. They married on 10/24/1967 following a four-year courtship that included a few farcical anecdotes along the way, as most good ones do…..
Three weeks later he was shipped off as a draftee to fight in Vietnam with the Alpha Company 2/60th 9th Infantry Division. He spent his 21st birthday as a guest in a local inn after the owners saw him playing with their sons and found out he was on leave with no definite overnight accommodations. He fought side by side with many people he would from then on call his brothers, all of whom shared the complex experience that can only be understood by those who survived to bear witness to it. Later, he would begin participating in the yearly reunions with many of his Alpha Company brothers. These reunions became a principal element for camaraderie and gave his family many new “Vietnam uncles.”
When he returned home in November of 1968, he like most, if not all, returning soldiers continued to process his experiences and find ways to integrate them into his life that soon included two children: son Dion and daughter Kimberly. He moved his young family from Detroit to Hartland in part to fulfill a dream to live on a lake, where they lived for forty years before moving back to “the city.” He worked afternoons and midnights, making the hour drive to Budd Co. in Detroit where he worked for 33 years with many people he genuinely respected and admired. He had a reputation of being a fair, dependable worker and a “no-nonsense” manager. He was given multiple attendance awards and worked six, sometimes seven days a week as a rule. Later, he was co-owner and proprietor of a neighborhood bar on Detroit’s east side for seven years. Following retirement from Budd in April 2003 he performed multiple jobs including working with his son, a master electrician, and was a regular fixture at his daughter’s and son-in-law’s home, turning ideas into reality.
As a father he used lessons learned from his multi-faceted experiences, particularly as a witness to the hardships of the villagers and their children during the war, to illustrate why we should be grateful for what we have. One of his quintessential lines “If I wake up in the morning to see another day, that’s fantastic, that’s enough” was, as a lot of parent to child advice, not appreciated until much later. Also well-worn territory in the way of parent to child counsel were stories of how he had to watch small children around the base camp forage for food at the dump, shoes were only worn in the winter when he lived in Kentucky as a child, and the various jobs (paper routes, shoe shining, etc.) that had to be done to raise money if he wanted bikes, toys, special clothes etc. Days with him could be spent playing hooky from school to go horseback riding, playing arcade games, learning how to pilot the boat, drive a car, change a tire, etc. He believed we should know how to take care of almost anything on our own, or at least understand the process so we would be less likely to be taken advantage of. He was a fierce and loyal advocate for his friends, family and beliefs, but was always willing to discuss both sides of the issue and able to acknowledge when mistakes were made.
In 2006 he became grandfather to his beloved Clara and swiftly made it his life’s mission to become her favorite everything. He accomplished this through Twinkies, cookies, ice cream, and later, conspiratorial bonding against perceived parental injustices (cleaning your room, performing chores and other atrocities). He was her staunch champion, whether the scenario required one or not, learner of X-Box video games or Minecraft, builder of doll furniture, and enthusiastic playmate whether with trains, dinosaurs, dragons or dolls.
He was an uncle to 14 nieces and nephews (favorite uncle to some ), big brother to four (one surviving: Michael Bentley; and three deceased: Joey Lee, Gregory, and Keith), and little brother to one (surviving: Patricia (Tish) Warren). He is also survived by his wife, Emily Bentley (nee Rainey), children Dion Bentley, and Kimberly Bernreuter, son-in-law Eric Bernreuter and granddaughter Clara.
“...with social consciousness concerning humanity that was prevalent in the sixties and seventies, any war for any reason, justifiable or not, would have been unconscionable…our country is not proud of itself; therefore, it is unwilling, if not crippled, in showing us any pride or compassion…be proud you served and grateful you survived. You know more about life than anyone else around you.”
******
You’re the one who makes hopes worth sharing, dreams worth daring, risks worth taking, plans worth making, life worth living, and love worth giving.
You’re my husband, my one and only love.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18