… Care for family, community paramount for 77-year-old retired Lake City businesswoman.
Friends gathered at Red Mountain Gulch Day Use Area, upper end of Lake San Cristobal, mid-day last weekend to amiably chat and smile broadly as they recalled the life of Mae Leinen Bentley.
Mrs. Bentley, widow of Utah Bentley and Lake City resident for more than 30 years, was 77 years old when she died at Hope West Hospice in Grand Junction, Colorado, on May 8, 2024. A retired Lake City businessowner and active civic volunteer boards, her health had rapidly declined over the course of the past year.
Rather that a traditional winter when she headed off to southern climes in her RV, Mae remained in Colorado as resident of Spring Creek Chalet in Montrose last winter and was hospitalized in Grand Junction a short time before her death.
Friends and family at Saturday’s Celebration of Life perused a lifetime of happy photos which were displayed dating back to a well coiffed portrait of Mae in early teenage years. Throughout the photos, whether young or in more mature years, there is a characteristic sparkle to Mae’s eyes — some might describe it as mischievous — as she took life one day at a time.
The daughter of John and Joyce (Smith) Leinen Lillie Mae Leinen, was a native of Amarillo, Texas, where she was born February 10, 1947.
Mae’s first husband was Kenneth Joe Hearn whom she married at age 14, August 2, 1961, in Dimmitt, Texas. Mr. Hearn was employed as an underground cable telephone installer and his work required Mae and their young family — two daughters and a son — to frequently move throughout the United States.
Mae and her two youngest children finally settled down at Stinnett, Texas, in 1980 when she worked for Fish Engineering & Construction.
Among her acquaintances in Stinnett was the city’s Chief of Police, Utah Carroll Bentley. Romance evolved and the couple drove to Clovis, New Mexico, for their marriage on October 21, 1985.
As a stay-at-home mother, Mae enjoyed looking after her two young grandchildren, brothers Shane and Travis Anderson, in her spare time.
Escaping hot Texas heat, in summers Utah and Mae frequently ventured to Colorado, one of their favorite locales being a long day’s drive to Lake City in the San Juan Mountain.
They in fact liked the place so much that they and their young son, Joe, moved here full time in 1988.
The Bentleys, son Joe and canine Nugget, were perhaps best known for sanitation truck business, Utah’s Sanitation, which they acquired from Randy Nelson and operated until 2001 when they retired and son Joe took over the business.
Included is a pencil portrait of the family’s well-known pooch, Nugget.
Below left, Mae as a teenager in 1961 prior to her first marriage and, below right, Mae and Utah Bentley with their young son, Joe, in 1987.
Early on in her years in Lake City, Mae worked for the Landrys and Hollingsworths at Blue Spruce Lumber; Mae also worked at the Sportsman in Wade’s Addition, as well as for Pete and Claire Jessee when they operated The Tackle Box fishing gear emporium and Lake City Liquors.
Mae served with distinction on a variety of organizations, including a term as Town of Lake City Trustee, director of Hinsdale County School Board, and member of the Hinsdale- IOOF Cemetery District during the time decorative metal fencing and entrance gates were installed at both the IOOF and City Cemeteries.
She was also an officer with Lake City Continental Divide Snowmobile Club assisting with snowmobile races and was both participant and assisted Edna Mason organize Lake City Recreation Dept.’s World Championship StIck Horse shows in Lake City Park. In retirement, Utah and Mae became full-time RVers, dividing their time between Lake City in the summer and southern locales — primarily Yuma, Arizona, during the winter months. Mae ably piloted their sizeable RV in both country and city locations, including more lengthy trips which included Alaska during the summer of 2003.
As Utah’s health declined following a stroke and increasing incapacitation, Mae became his chief caregiver, effortlessly switching from RV pilot to golf cart driver as she and Utah travelled on local routes — with plenty of stops to see friends — in and around Lake City.
Following Utah’s death in February, 2020, Mae continued RVing to spend winters closer to family in Texas, returning to Lake City in summers and traveling solo on the same golf cart trips around town. With a ready smile and familiar wave, she wasn’t above picking up the occasional hitchhiker, including SILVER WORLD reporters who on occasion caught a golf cart ride for quick transport in between events.
Leisure favorites for Mae throughout her life in Lake City included fishing at Lake San Cristobal, bead working, making jewelry, and Bocce Ball.
Mae Bentley’s survivors are her two daughters and son, Elizabeth Hearn Bell and her husband, Dave Bell, who divide their time between Lake City and Friendswood, Texas; Paulette Hearn Bearrow and her husband, Patrick Bearrow, Lake City and Sargent, Texas; and Joe Hearn and his wife, Sandy Hines, Lake City; eight grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.
Other survivors are Mae’s step-daughter, Aloha Bentley Pearson, of Stinnett, Texas; a sister, Sharon Leinen, Dimmet, Texas; and three brothers, Gene Steel, San Angelo, Texas, John Leinen, Borger, Texas, and Jim Leinen, Pampa, Texas, together with an aunt, Mary Herring, Chandler, Texas, and numerous nephews and nieces.
In addition to her husband, Utah Bentley, and stepson, Carroll Wayne Bentley, Mae was predeceased by a grandson, Shane Anderson, and brother, Don Leinen.
Ashes of both Mae and Utah will now remain in Lake City at the family plot in IOOF Cemetery.
Friends wishing to make a donation in Mae’s memory may wish to make a contribution in her name to Hinsdale County Historical Society, P.O. Box 353, Lake City, CO 81235.
