Elizabeth Louise Heller Bentley

Elizabeth Louise Bentley (Betty Bentley) left us on July 29, 2024 after a short illness, a vibrant life, and two dogs named Misty.

Born to Bronx residents Hazel and Herman Heller on June 20, 1942, Betty’s family was joined by her brother, Herman Robert, six years later.

Although the family lived in the Bronx, Betty and her brother stayed in Somers, NY over the weekends and summers as her father built the family home. Betty told stories of making an entire tomato last a week (she loved her tomato sandwiches!) and picking lots of blueberries. The house her father built was where Betty lived with and cared for him before she would move to Alabama years later.

Betty had two daughters, Laura and Elizabeth, and a dog named Misty, from her first marriage. A highlight of the family's summers together were annual camping trips in the Northeast with friends. Betty drove a school bus while her girls were little so she would always be close by. 

Betty enrolled in Pace University when her daughters were older, earning a Bachelor's in Accounting. She eventually became a CPA and has been doing taxes for her friends and family for years.

After her first marriage ended, Betty moved to Heritage Hills, Somers, and took up tap dancing, a lifelong dream of hers. She also became an avid traveler. She met her second husband, John Bentley, on a church-sponsored trip to Oberammergau, Germany to see the Passion Play. They married in July of 2002.

Betty described John as “the love of my life." They traveled extensively for years, eventually settling down in "Glosta by the Bay," a big pink house they bought on Mobile Bay. There, they enjoyed sitting in their sunroom watching beautiful sunsets and dolphins playing in the water. 

Since John's death in 2020, Betty has lived in Daphne, Alabama with her little rescue dog, Misty 2. Betty was active in the Altar Guild of St. James Episcopal Church and with Daughters of the King. She still traveled when she could and had planned a trip to Egypt with a good friend later this year. But mostly, Betty enjoyed sitting on her porch with Misty on her lap, talking with her neighbors.

Betty went to join her Lord and John after a brief illness. She is deeply missed by her brother Herman Robert, her daughters Laura Caruso and Elizabeth Guice, her son-in-law John Guice, her stepson Jim Bentley, and her grandchildren Taylor and Jack Howard, Jeremy and Crisara Cuebas, Alex Nocera, Benjamin Cuebas, Cameron Nocera, Grayson Nocera, Lauren Bentley, and Madison Bentley. She is also missed by innumerable friends and family members whom she loved very much.

Betty’s memorial service will take place at St. James Episcopal Church in Fairhope AL on August 17th at 11:00 AM. There, at the church she and John both loved, she will be interred beside him. 

The family asks for donations to St James Episcopal Church in lieu of flowers.