Obituary of Margaret M. Bentley

Margaret Alice Murray Bentley, 96, formerly of 68 Fluvanna Avenue, Jamestown and the Frewsburg Rest Home, died peacefully in her sleep at 1:10 PM Friday, September 26, 2014, at the Heritage Green Rehab and Skilled Nursing Facility. She was born August 10, 1918, in Jamestown, New York, to John J. and Kathryn Delehanty Murray. In her youth, Margaret was an enthusiastic ice skater and tennis player. She attended Saints Peter and Paul School in Jamestown and was a graduate of the 1936 "Orphan Class" of Jamestown High School, when the current high school building was not yet completed. She was educated as a teacher at the Fredonia Normal School, and faithfully attended her class reunions for many years. Margaret began her teaching career in a one-room schoolhouse in Ellington, New York, and had many memories of the boys carrying wood to heat the school building in winter, and of using oil lamps for lighting in the home where she boarded. She later taught at the Lakewood Elementary School , and taught fourth grade at the Charles Street school in Jamestown. Margaret left teaching to raise her family, but later returned to the Jamestown school system as a substitute teacher. After retiring from teaching, Margaret often worked as a volunteer at the WCA Hospital. Margaret was a devout Catholic and a life-long parishioner of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church (Holy Apostles Parish) in Jamestown, where she was a member of the Altar and Rosary Society. Survivors include her husband, Daniel F. Bentley, whom she married on July 22, 1950, and with whom she made her home for sixty years on Fluvanna Avenue. Also surviving are three sons, Paul W. (Judy) Bentley and Thomas M. Bentley of Jamestown, Richard K. Bentley of Erie, Pa., and a daughter, Kathryn E. (Stephen) Schultz of Valley View, Ohio. Her four grandchildren, Susan E. Bentley of Jamestown, NY, Jennifer K. Bentley of Arlington, VA, Adriano (Teresa) Schultz, of Merrillville, IN, and Leandro (Sara) Schultz, of Cary, NC. She was preceded in death by a one-year-old sister, Mary Eileen Murray, who died of pneumonia in 1928, a younger brother, John R. Murray in 1987, an infant son born on her own birthday in 1951, and a son, Daniel J. Bentley, in 1972. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, September 30th at Holy Apostles Parish at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church, 508 Cherry St., Jamestown. The Rev. Dennis W. Mende, pastor will be celebrant. Burial will be in the Holy Cross Cemetery. Friends will be received from 6-8 p.m. Monday, September 29th in the Lind Funeral Home where a Christian Wake Service will be led at 5:45 p.m. Monday. Memorials may be made to Holy Apostles Parish, the James Prendergast Library ,509 Cherry St. Jamestown, NY 14701, or the American Red Cross, 325 East Fourth St. Jamestown, NY 14701. Margaret's family would like to thank the staffs of the Frewsburg Rest Home and Heritage Green for their compassionate care during her last years.