|
the Spirit of Martha Bentley |
|
|
2:00 pm, Saturday, August 9 Charter Member of both organizations, co-founder of BRC, former President of MAS, environmental educator, dynamic and dedicated Conservationist, and tender caregiver for orphaned hummingbirds and all living things. |
|
| . | |
|
Published: Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at
4:30 a.m. Friends of Martha Bentley, the storied Sonoma County conservationist who died Monday at age 89, might disagree on which exploit best typified the relentless, persuasive grand dame of the Santa Rosa Bird Rescue Center. Fellow bird rescuer Crystal Norris of Santa Rosa favors the tale about the time in 1986 that Bentley drove to Cloverdale to pick up an injured golden eagle. Bentley was driving back to Santa Rosa on Highway 101 when she saw in the rear-view mirror that the lid was lifting on the big box in the backseat, and a great wing was emerging. She went to step on the brake but hit the accelerator, and her car careened into the guardrail, tumbled and came to rest upside down. Bentley was hanging batlike in her seatbelt when a good Samaritan raced up and asked if he could help her. The retired children's librarian and lifelong environmentalist peered up at him and whooped, "The hell with me -- get the bird!" Bentley, who co-founded a reborn Bird Rescue Center with Alida Morzenti in 1980, was still driving about and picking up injured or orphaned birds until about a month ago, when she had a pacemaker implanted. "She'd slowed down a little, but she'd put your average 50-year-old to shame," said Morzenti. "She was the quintessential little old lady in tennis shoes in a way." Bentley's niece, Susan Herley, said Bentley began to feel poorly just a week ago. Doctors at Sutter Medical Center -- located a stone's throw from the Bird Rescue Center's home off Chanate Road -- found that Bentley's kidneys were failing and there was a serious infection in her bloodstream. Bentley, whose myriad adventures included serving with the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II, died in her sleep on Memorial Day. In addition to Bentley's 28 years of work with the Bird Rescue Center, she was a charter member of the Madrone Audubon Society and an advocate of coastal conservation and the preservation of open space. She grew up in Rochester, N.Y., and inherited her love of nature and wildlife from her late father. She was only 3 days old when she lost her mother to influenza in 1918. Her father was a naturalist by avocation who treated his six daughters, the Bentley Girls, everyone called them, to frequent outings into the wild and to summers at a canoeing camp west of Toronto. Bentley attended public schools in Rochester, then studied library science at Cornell University and Boston's Simmons College. The onset of war in 1941, when she was 23, interrupted her plans to become a children's librarian. She enlisted in the Coast Guard and was trained to do coding. She served for a time in Alaska and in 1943 was discharged from active duty in Seattle. She moved to Detroit shortly after the war and started a long career as a children's librarian. In the early 1960s, she was working at a library in Queens when a friend told her about Santa Rosa. She moved to the city and became the coordinator of children's services for the North Bay Cooperative Library System. She retired in 1973. In 1980 she met Morzenti, who'd recently moved to Santa Rosa after operating a rescue center for raptors -- birds of prey -- in Davis. They hit it off and decided to take up where other attempts to establish a bird rescue facility in Santa Rosa had failed. Bentley ever since was a mainstay of the Bird Rescue Center, whose volunteers each year treat between about 2,500 and 3,000 sick, injured or orphaned birds. In addition to her niece in Marin County, Bentley is survived by two of her five sisters, Dorothea Witherspoon of Fort Meyers, Fla., and Phyllis Bentley of Rochester, N.Y. Inurnment will be at the Bentley family plot in Rochester. Bentley's friends and family are planning a celebration of her life sometime this summer in Santa Rosa. They suggest memorial contributions to the Bird Rescue Center, P.O. Box 475, Santa Rosa 95402. -- Chris Smith Published: Wednesday, May 28, 2008
at 4:30 a.m. |
|
| . | |
|
Martha had the energy and vitality and "joie de vivre" that we all aspire to, even as she neared 90 years of age! educator for Bird Rescue. When I went with Martha on Bird Rescue visits to school classrooms she loved to bring a little Western Screech Owl. drew children to lean in and look closely.....at a walnut-sized hummingbird's nest or a velvety owl's feather. She passed her own enjoyment of birds to the children. every bit of the history and background on environmental issues of the past 40 years in Sonoma County. piercing assessment and pointed comments. Chapter made her unofficial historian of Madrone. incredible role model for me and for many many others. |
|
| . | |
|
"We have lost a hero. She was a friend of Audubon and a valued friend to all of us who served with her. Her insights were always respected and her dedication to the cause a real inspiration." State Policy Director of California Audubon |
|
|
Her dear friend, neighbor, and compatriot, Ernestine 'Ernie' Smith commented simply, "She is a legend." . |
|
|
"We have experienced the loss of a wonderful woman, who was firm in her beliefs, persistent in the paths that she followed, and was, above all, kind and understanding to all. She lived modestly, loved genuinely, and vigorously practiced what she preached to the very end." |
|
| . | |
|
Tom Rusert with Sonoma Valley Birding called her a "great and dear gift to this Earth." |
|
| . | |
|
Martha has touched so many of us. One so unique simply cannot be replaced. We must cherish and treasure the many gifts she bestowed upon those lucky enough to be close to her or had the pleasure of working with her. |
|
| . | |
|
Below is an "award winning essay" from the West County News that Kathy Biggs, dragonfly lady and Wes's mother, provides. Wes is 32 now and he and his wife live in England and he still remembers Martha -"[I] recall she was always very good with us kids. She had a real way of engaging without being condescending." |
|
 |
|
 |
|
| . | |
|
Dearest Martha: To all who feel your absence from our lives so acutely, know that a Great Soul has passed. Free of Earth, As Free as Air, Now you travel everywhere. ~~FLY FLY AWAY, OUR DEAR MARTHA~~ You will never be forgotten; people will be remembering and reminiscing about you for years to come. I am so very grateful to have known you, With Deep Love, Mary Jo Wheeler and all the hummingbirds |
|
| . | |
|
for Bird Rescue & had occasion to call her more than once. She was a very important proponent for birds through Bird Rescue and Madrone Audubon. Her influence will be missed. |
|
| .( | |
|
Dear to my heart, Martha Bentley epitomized the environmental activist who took her case to the elected. To hear that commanding voice silence the room at a public hearing was a treat. Martha's role to urge a governor's veto of a bill to create a whole new city on Sonoma County's San Pablo bayfront is little known but should be carved in stone someday. |
|
|
I am so happy that she was part of mine. I'm forever grateful to her. It seems that my little auto-quote (Thoreau) feature below fits the situation. Love, Mark "Goodness is the only investment that never fails." |
|
|
back as a glorious Bird.... maybe not a migratory one..they have to work so very hard..and yet as I think upon this....she most likely would LOVE that...perhaps she could fly about saving Human beings! Thank you for letting us know, |
|
|
with her, and I was wondering, what is she doing with those syringes?! She was so involved and clear...I thought "is she measuring out insulin or what?" Well, she was feeding two baby hummingbirds. It was amazing. She took them everywhere with her, because they needed almost constant feeding! She also had a very sweet dog waiting in her car. The worlds birds, environment and animals need more advocates like Martha Bentley! (I also remember how honored I felt when she supported me in my campaigns. Being supported by an Environmental Hero feels really good!) Veronica Jacobi (Santa Rosa Councilmember) |
|
 |
|
|
(Submitted for publication to Press Democrat) By Betty Burridge Changes in the general public's understanding and attitude toward the need for environmental safeguards did not just happened spontaneously. It was Martha Bentley along with other courageous and foresighted early conservation pioneers who fought vigorously for what they already knew to be important for Sonoma County's future. Martha, who died May 25 at age 89, was a leader of the pack. This dynamic retired librarian was indeed larger than life in so many areas of the environmental movement that the sheer quantity, not to mention the quality of her credits far exceeded the space available to Chris Smith for his touching Martha Bentley Obituary. (Wed. May 28) Her extraordinary dedication and involvement in creating and supporting Sonoma County's Bird Rescue Center are legendary. But even before then, and ever since, Martha was a mainstay in Madrone Audubon Society's conservation leadership in the County. Joining Madrone 41 years ago in 1967 as a Charter Member, she soon took the reins as Vice President, then President of the first and, at that time, only Audubon Chapter in Northern California. She was a long-term Conservation Committee Chair, and, one year even co-compiled the Western Sonoma County Christmas Bird Count. She became an early and immediate driving force in what is now a powerful local 2000 member conservation organization that is also a leader in citizen science. Her erudite and knowledgeable verbal presentations on environmental issues before the Board of Supervisors and Santa Rosa City Council were legendary, and earned respect if not always agreement from the local politicos. At least one political foe was once quoted as saying, "(even if I can't always agree with her,) she certainly always does her homework well." She was an advocate for clean air and water, preservation and protection of land and habitat for wildlife, slow/no-growth policies, preserving the local creeks - and the list goes on. Then avant-garde ideas have now become popularly supported issues, as demonstrated by a 77% approval vote by Sonoma County residents in last November's vote to continue public funding of our Open-Space District. She and many other old-timers (Iva Warner, Bill Kortum, Dick Day, Ernestine (Ernie) Smith to mention just a few) were the leaders, and are role models for today's open-space and habitat preservation advocates, be they individuals, agencies, organizations or land trusts. In recognition of these efforts, the Martha Bentley/Ernie Smith Award is given yearly by Madrone Audubon for outstanding contributions to the protection and enhancement of the environment through education and/or conservation activity in the community. As an environmental educator, Martha, through Madrone Audubon Society and The Bird Rescue Center, has reached untold numbers of children and adults. And as an environmental advocate she has worked tirelessly to improve our earth community. We salute her and her lifetime accomplishments. When told that her dear friend, and neighbor had died, Ernestine 'Ernie' Smith commented simply, "She is a legend." |
|