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52 Ancestors in 52 weeks No. 2, Joyce Beverly Bentsen

The second person on my ancestral chart, my mother Joyce Beverly Bentsen, lived from 1929-2000. Several years before she died, she wrote about herself for a family history compiled by one of her aunts. She contributed this to the Bentsen-Sivertsen History, 1800-1988 by Signe Bentsen Fleming:

[I] was born April 8, 1929 in Plentywood, Montana. [I] attended Brooklyn Elementary School and Lincoln Junior High School in Hibbing, Minnesota and graduated from Hibbing High School in 1947. [I] then attended the Duluth Branch of the University of Minnesota and Northwest Community College in Powell, Wyoming and graduated from the University of Wyoming in Laramie in 1951 with a degree in Business Education.

[I] taught commercial subjects at Douglas High School in Douglas, Wyoming from 1951 to 1953 and worked summers at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone Park, Pahaska Tepee at the east entrance to Yellowstone, and the Virginia Café in Rapid City, South Dakota. [I] also taught business subjects at the University of Wyoming and Adult Night School in Laramie. [I later] worked at H&R Block Income Tax Service in Casper, [Wyoming].

[I] lived in Butte, Montana; Laramie, Wyoming; Bismarck, North Dakota; Sidney, Nebraska; Casper, Wyoming; and Cody, Wyoming. [I] am the [mother] of four children.

Mom did not mention that she was Valedictorian of her high school class. She was accomplished in other ways, too, including playing the piano.

Mom died on July 3, 2000 in Casper after a long illness. At that time, she lived in her dream house, and my Dad took care of her. The home was filled with clothes she had made, needlework she had created, and milk glass she had collected. She loved gardening and had beautiful flower beds—quite a challenge in cold, windy Wyoming.

Still, Mom did not like Wyoming much and always wished she could move somewhere with more trees. Perhaps she takes some satisfaction that only one of her children stayed in the state. We hope she approves that her final resting place, Highland Cemetery in Casper, has beautiful old trees and green lawns.

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