Roseann Bentley, public servant and champion for education and Missouri children, mourned
Her son Jeff Bentley, one of four children, told the News-Leader she "died at home, surrounded by her family." He said she had "a pretty full life."
Bentley spent decades working on behalf of children and education, advocating for early learning and gifted programs.
"It's a great loss to our community and to the state because of all she did," said Todd Parnell, former president of Drury University who co-chaired the Every Child Promise with wife Betty. "She was a heroine to Betty and I for understanding how critical early childhood education is in the lives of children. We loved her."
She taught kindergarten and first grade and served on the Springfield school board as well as the state school board. She also served on the National Association of State Boards of Education and the Parents As Teachers National Board.
"Roseann Bentley leaves a legacy of support for our youngest citizens. She believed in the power of early childhood programs to partner with parents and give young children the best possible start in life," said Kimberly Shinn-Brown, director of Head Start at the Ozarks Area Community Action Corporation.
"Her work in the Missouri Senate supported Parents As Teachers, helped establish state-funded Early Head Start, and expanded early childhood education opportunities for children across the state. She proved that early education deserves bipartisan support."
Shinn-Brown added: "I'll miss her ready smile and graceful but steady determination to leave the world better than she found it."
Bentley was a founding member of the Community Partnership of the Ozarks Board of Directors, serving more than 20 years, including a stint as the board president in 2009.
She was on the statewide Families and Community Trust, or FACT, board for more than 10 years. She represented CPO and helped shape other community partnerships across Missouri.
Emily Fox, the former CEO and executive director of the Discovery Center, relocated to New Mexico nearly a dozen years ago but kept in touch with the Bentleys, who visited her there.
"She was a huge champion of women and wanted women in leadership roles. That was always something she ingrained in me, that if I wanted to be a leader, as a woman, that I could do it and she'd stand behind me," Fox told the News-Leader.
Fox described Bentley as down-to-earth and accessible.
"She really cared about education, she truly cared about people and they all say this but I never saw anybody more like this than Annie Bentley, she really, really wanted to make a difference for people," Fox said. "She wasn't in politics to make money and to gladhand and to be somebody. She was in it to work and make a difference, best she could."
The first woman elected to the Missouri Senate from the southwest corner of the state, Bentley represented the Springfield area from 1995 to 2003.
Following that service, she was a Greene County Commissioner for 12 years, retiring in 2016.
Dana Carroll, who spent decades working on early childhood education at CPO, said Bentley "was such a brave leader. She fought hard and stood tall."
"Roseann was a woman of deep faith, who raised a family of of servant leaders and blazed a trail for generations of future female advocates," Carroll said. "I was so proud to know her, learn from her and I considered her a mentor who encouraged me to dream big."
Sara Lampe, who served Springfield in the Missouri House, was a teacher and longtime principal of the Phelps Center for the Gifted in Springfield.
"I couldn't have done that I did with gifted kids or with gifted education statewide without Roseann being just where we were, breaking ground. She was always right where we needed her," Lampe said.
Lampe said in the 1970s, while a member of the Springfield school board, Bentley started looking at ways to better serve gifted children. Later, as a state board member and lawmaker, she continued to serve those students in different ways.
She said Bentley was also an early supporter of bringing the International Baccalaureate program to SPS, and specifically Central High School.
"She just believed in good things and was willing to stand up and say 'Let's do it,'" Lampe recalled, adding that Bentley was happy to let others shine and didn't look to take credit.
"She was incredibly unselfish. A lot of people do things for themselves but Roseann was always doing it for somebody else."
Lampe said she thinks of Bentley each time she takes her children to Phelps Grove Park because the Roseann Bentley Musical Playground was dedicated there in 2023.
"I see her as an innovator, an innovative thinker, a risk-taker," she said. "She was opening the door."
Bentley helped found Ozarks Public Television in the early 1970s and the United Way of the Ozarks Day of Caring in 1993.
In 2016, Springfield Public Schools named its new administrative center on Sunshine Street in her honor.
"I have known Annie for decades. I remember looking up to her as she served on the Springfield Board of Education when I was a high school student at Glendale High School," said Tom Prater, who served on both the Springfield school board and City Council.
"Years later, I was happy to vote to name the administration building on East Sunshine in her honor when I served on the Springfield Board of Education."
Prater, recently appointed to a statewide task force working on state funding, added: "Her career was admirable. We all respected her greatly. Her dedication as a public servant inspired us all."
Judy Brunner, president of the Springfield school board, called Bentley "a legend" who spent a lifetime of service to others.
"She was ahead of her time ... in terms of female leadership," Brunner said. "She had strong opinions and beliefs about what Springfield Public Schools should be and she wanted a place for all students and high academics and had a particular interest in gifted education."
Brunner, a retired Springfield teacher, principal and administrator, remembered Bentley as a "quiet, well-prepared, thoughtful leader."
"She knew what she wanted and she knew how to get there," Brunner said. "Her quiet demeanor should have never been underestimated because ... knew how to use her power and influence. She knew how to do it in a way that didn't make people angry."
Brunner said Bentley was a mediator and a peacemaker who was skilled at finding common ground with others.
"I have nothing but positive things to say about the legacy of Annie Bentley," she said. "We were lucky that she was so willing to give of herself at the local level and statewide."
In 2003, the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce honored Bentley with its annual Springfieldian award, according to a News-Leader story published on Feb. 1, 2003.
Bentley was married to physician and humanitarian John Bentley, who died in march 2023. They had four children — Jeff, Chris, Melissa, and Jonathan — and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
This story has been updated with new information.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Roseann Bentley, champion for education and Missouri children, mourned
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
42 minutes ago
- Yahoo
This 1 iPhone Setting Might Be Messing With Your Friendships
You just had another terrible interaction with your annoying co-worker, so you pour out your soul to your bestie via a long, emoji-riddled text. You hit send. You wait for those reassuring three dots to start bubbling up. But they never come. Strange, considering your iMessage app confirmed your friend 'read' your message more than two hours ago. What gives? Did you do something wrong? Is your pal angry at you? Before you know it, you're emotionally spiraling, casting doubt on your years-long friendship. And it was all caused by a single modern communication feature: the read receipt. This pesky technological advancement may allow us to know the exact moment our friends see our texts or direct messages, but thanks to society's growing need for instant gratification — brought on by our ever-present phones — read receipts have the potential to cause more harm than good. Unless we reevaluate our expectations. 'Read receipts aren't secretly ruining your friendships — your unspoken expectations about instant replies are,' observes visibility strategist Patrice Williams-Lindo, the CEO of Career Nomad, a career coaching service. 'We've normalized a 24/7 availability culture that confuses responsiveness with care, when in reality, healthy friendships allow space for people to respond on their own time without guilt. If you're using read receipts to track your worth to someone, it's worth pausing to check whether you're seeking reassurance or connection.' While read receipts can be a useful communication tool, it's important to establish your own communication needs and boundaries early on. It's on you to determine if you would benefit more from leaving read receipts on or turning them off. (Either choice is fine!) 'Our reactions to social behavior, including text communication, will be based on our expectations,' said Morgan Cope, assistant professor of psychology at Centre College and an expert on interpersonal relationships. According to the experts HuffPost interviewed, it's not so much read receipts that threaten our friendships, but the unrealistic communication expectations — or 'text-pectations' — we set for ourselves. Living in the digital age, it's easy to forget that only a few decades ago, our main forms of communication were landline telephones and letters. The shift to instantaneous connection has been nothing short of revolutionary. As a result, our social interaction expectations have been fraught with growing pains. But who's to say that people didn't experience the same kind of social anxiety in the late 19th century when the telephone was introduced? '[Telephones] blew up expectations of social interactions as they integrated into government and professional spaces, and eventually people's homes,' Cope said. 'In the past, when people wrote letters and waited days or even weeks for a reply, there was often still anxiety, but there was also more room to manage expectations,' said licensed marriage and family therapist Saba Harouni Lurie, the owner and founder of Take Root Therapy. 'People understood that delays were part of the process and not necessarily personal. Now, because we carry our phones with us everywhere, all the time, it creates the illusion that we are always available and should always be responsive.' The downside to having the ability to communicate with anyone, anywhere, at any time means that 'we've normalized hyperavailability,' Williams-Lindo said. That means we've unwittingly begun 'confusing constant responsiveness with love, loyalty, and friendship quality.' Sure, it's great if you're in New York and can immediately reach out to a friend 3,000 miles away in Seattle. But at the same time, 'the instant messaging era encourages a dopamine-driven cycle of quick replies, making people feel obligated to drop everything,' continues Williams-Lindo. 'It erodes healthy boundaries, conditioning us to feel guilty for taking time to think, rest, or live offline.' For centuries, we had no way of knowing when our loved ones received our correspondence. Letters arrived when they arrived, and if someone wasn't home when we called, we left a message and hoped for a timely call back. Now that we can see the exact second our texts were read, it's easy for our minds to take over and create a narrative that isn't based in reality: 'OMG, Bridget saw my text at 11:04 a.m. and it's now 3:14 p.m. She must hate me.' But it's far more likely that Bridget got caught up in something else than suddenly decided you're not special anymore. 'They might be in the middle of something, distracted, or simply not ready to respond,' said Harouni Lurie. 'But because we are trying to connect, that silence can easily feel personal, even when it is not.' 'Read receipts can trigger a rejection spiral because many people equate 'seen but no reply' with 'I'm not important,'' said Williams-Lindo. 'It taps into our fear of being ignored or abandoned, even if the delay has nothing to do with us. Our brains crave closure, and read receipts can feel like an unresolved cliffhanger, making us interpret neutral pauses as personal slights.' Technology may influence every area of communication now, but that doesn't mean humans don't need — and thrive on — IRL reactions. 'Our emotional expectations are still rooted in face-to-face communication,' Harouni Lurie said. 'When we are talking to someone in person, we usually get immediate feedback, including eye contact, nods and verbal responses. So when we send a message and see that it has been read, it can feel like we have reached out and been left hanging.' Since no one deserves to be 'left hanging,' there are ways to avoid the dreaded unanswered — but still read! — text. This begins by having open conversations with our friends about our text-pectations. 'That might mean sharing how often we tend to check texts, how quickly we usually respond, or whether we sometimes need space before replying,' Harouni Lurie said. 'It can also be helpful to name how it feels when a friend does not respond right away.' Ellie, who asked to be identified by a pseudonym to preserve her anonymity, made a point of having these conversations with her friends, and now they have a system in place to ensure no one is 'left hanging.' '[My friends and I] mutually agreed to turn on read receipts,' Ellie told HuffPost. '[This was] largely out of care for each other and wanting to make sure we were supportive during hard times.' In the case of one particular friend, whom we'll refer to as J, Ellie even has a specific time frame in which to follow up if one of them isn't emotionally available to respond: 'For example, J messages me and I respond, and if she reads my response but doesn't message me back in 12 hours, I follow up with a heart emoji that serves as a reminder of support.' 'When both people are willing to be honest and compassionate, those conversations can actually strengthen the friendship,' Harouni Lurie said. 'Clear expectations and mutual understanding help prevent assumptions and reduce the emotional weight we might place on response time.' Regardless of our instant-gratification culture, setting healthier digital expectations in your friendships is just a good practice. More importantly, managing these expectations can go a long way toward normalizing that we aren't (and shouldn't be) immediately available to our friends 24/7. Here are some strategies for both you and your friend circles, courtesy of Williams-Lindo: Name the norm: Let friends know you value them, but you may read and respond later to give them your full attention. Create 'slow messaging' zones: Intentionally respond after you've rested or finished your day's priorities. Lead by example: Take your time replying and reassure friends it's normal, modeling a healthier digital pace. Turn off read receipts if they create anxiety: Do it for yourself and others, to remove performative urgency. Using read receipts can be beneficial for your friendships. What needs to change isn't whether you use them, but how you respond to them. 'Read receipts can become a tool for trust rather than tension,' Williams-Lindo said. 'They can help normalize, 'I saw your message, and I'll get back to you when I can,' rather than, 'I must drop everything immediately.'' Harouni Lurie echoes this sentiment, suggesting that 'leaving texts on 'read' can actually be a healthy way to show that someone is not always available but has still received the message.' 'That is, in fact, the purpose of the feature: not to guarantee an immediate response, but to let others know that their message has been received,' Harouni Lurie added. We might do wonders for our friendships if we shift our text-pectations toward a better understanding of why read receipts were created in the first place — to make communication easier. 'Remember that technology is supposed to help us communicate,' Cope said, 'and communication should (on the whole) make us feel good.' If that's not happening — and your methods of communicating are 'leading to negative mind and body responses' — then it might be time to reassess your personal communication expectations, she noted. You didn't become friends with someone because you liked their texting style. So instead of getting upset when they don't text you back ASAP, showing a little patience and compassion can go a long way. After all, Harouni Lurie said, 'friendships are built on understanding, not on how fast someone answers their phone.'
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
I have 2 kids in college, and our relationships have changed. I'm learning new parenting lessons all the time.
I'm a mom of four, and two of my kids are now in college. My daughter, 18, still lives at home, and my son, 20, has moved out. We're navigating this new time period and our shifting dynamic, and figuring out our new boundaries. Parenting changes when children head off to college — the dynamic shifts. It's a strange transitional time, and right now, I'm learning to let go. I am still a mom, but as my kids begin to transition to adulthood, there are also lessons I still need to teach them. I want them to know how to make doctor appointments and refill prescriptions. I want them to be able to do things without me. I have four kids, including an 18-year-old daughter and a 20-year-old son. My relationships with both of them have changed since they started college; there are also differences in the dynamic between me and my daughter, who remains at home in the bedroom she grew up in, and my relationship with my son, who has moved out and now lives with his girlfriend. Yes, legally, they are adults, but they are still learning some monumental lessons that we are navigating both together and apart. We've already experienced some milestones together during this time, and there are more on the way. For example, while they're still covered under my insurance and I pay their expenses, medical bills are addressed to them, not me, which makes it harder for me to pay them. I don't have the right to access their medical information unless they permit me to do so. That process has been a complicated one, and I've had to teach them how to do things like make doctor's appointments and refill prescriptions. They are also learning about taxes and other 'adult' responsibilities. This year, I did my daughter's taxes, but my son wanted to do his own. He came over with the laptop he purchased on his own, and I walked him through it instead of doing it for him as I have in the past. That's been a big part of the difference between the two; while my daughter still relies on me a bit more, because we're more involved in each other's lives every day, my son has started to lean on me less. I often feel guilty because I do more for her than I do for him, though he is two years older. Another interesting issue is figuring out boundaries together — both theirs and mine. My college-age daughter can vote and get approved for a credit card, but still lives under our roof. We've decided not to impose a curfew on her. However, she does need to call me and let me know where she is. When it comes to money, we've discussed what she pays for and what I cover. She works, and she pays for some of her clothes and activities while I cover her cellphone bill and anything related to the cost of living in the house, like food and utilities. She also paid for most of a college visit we went on together to Arizona, including her flight. Things work differently for her brother, who lives on his own. I don't set rules for him. The only bills I still cover are his cellphone and medical bills. I still worry about him, but I understand letting him go is a natural part of parenting a young adult. There are times when I still miss seeing him each day, and because he's busy with work and school, we have to carve out time just to see each other. Navigating this new era of parenting has been both a challenge and a joy. I am getting to watch my children transition to adulthood with and without my help. They are implementing lessons I've taught and learning other things without me. We are re-establishing our relationships as we so often have, as they've moved from toddlers to school-age kids to teens to adults. While I don't always love letting go, I am so proud of how they are transitioning to this new phase of their lives. It is also preparing me for when my youngest two children, who are 12 and 14, become young adults and get ready to leave home. Read the original article on Business Insider
WIRED
an hour ago
- WIRED
Does Your Bed-in-a-Box Need a Box Spring?
If you haven't seen a box spring in a while, it's not your imagination—a mattress expert breaks down when you might need this dinosaur of the sleep world. All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links. You're probably familiar with a box spring, the simple wood frame with springs that acts as a support base under older mattresses. It's not a highly technical piece of equipment like a smart bed (or a trampoline, wouldn't that be fun)—this kind of mattress foundation has persisted through the ages solely due to its simple and durable design. But have you noticed you may not be seeing them as often nowadays? In my opinion as a career mattress tester, contemporary mattresses are on their way to making this furniture addition obsolete. However, that doesn't mean it automatically gets booted from your mattress setup scenario. Let's unpack what a box spring actually is, why you may or may not need one, and where it could set you and your mattress up for success. For this article, I'm relying on my own expertise as a Spencer Institute–certified sleep science coach and mattress tester of five years, as well as that of John Merwin, CEO of 3Z Brands (maker of Helix, Nolah, Bear, and Leesa) and founder of Brooklyn Bedding. The Box Spring's Backstory Mattresses back in the day weren't what they are now, and that time frame extends from the earliest iterations of mattresses to 50 years ago to today. Support was, let's just say, pretty abysmal. Think of a bed completely filled with hay, and more often than not that's what you had to work with. The box spring was meant to alleviate that lack of support with its introduction during the late 18th century. Engraving depicting a coiled spring mattress, demonstrating its lightness compared with a feather or a feather and spring mattress of a similar size. Its manufactures also recommended it as "it does not harbour vermin or dirt". (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images) UniversalA box spring involves a wooden frame or base that contains innerspring coils or has coils set atop the base. A fabric casing is often involved to keep everything contained. This is a deliberate design choice, because the coils in the box spring are springing up to meet the mattress atop it. The wooden frame has slats to ensure that no sagging is happening around the center of the bed, while providing some foundational backup to the coils. If we think back to the ye olde mattress days, or the time before mattresses in a box were a thing (which was 2004, to be exact), the box spring was the predominant piece of furniture that accompanied your mattress. As time went on, box springs evolved to support a specific type of mattress—traditional innerspring coils. 'Traditional coils are often referred to as Bonnell coils, which have been used in mattresses for generations,' says 3Z CEO John Merwin. 'They're designed in an hourglass shape where they're wider at the top and bottom with a thinner middle to offer a combination of support and flexibility." But why does this coil type need a box spring in the first place? Ultimately, it came down to making sure sleepers were truly getting support across the board, er, box spring. Traditional coils 'are designed to offer a combination of support and flexibility, but because these coils are connected by a network of wires, they tend to move as a unit rather than individually," Merwin says. 'This makes them more dependent on a box spring or foundation to provide proper support and absorb shock.' Beds with Bonnell coils are still out there, but usually not as the standout mattress material within a bed. Some hybrids may use it at the base of the mattress for durability, with pocketed coils and memory foam layered atop it. Still, in these cases, box springs aren't necessary, since the coils are doing the heavy lifting. An example of this would be the Brooklyn Bedding Signature Hybrid, which utilizes modern pocketed coils for durability and support. Box Springs and Your Mattress (in a Box) Owners of modern-day mattresses, either from a box shipped to your house or a brick-and-mortar mattress store, need to be extra careful when pairing a box spring with their bed, if it all. Merwin says the box spring helps extend the life of the mattress by reducing wear and tear, especially since Bonnell coils don't offer the same level of motion isolation or adaptive support as more modern pocketed coil designs. 'While still found in some entry-level models,' Merwin says, "Bonnell coils have largely been phased out in favor of more advanced coil systems that better align with today's comfort and durability standards." So, the reality is (A) you probably don't need a box spring, and (B) a box spring could actually be damaging to your bed. Not to mention, it could potentially void your warranty coverage. For memory foam mattresses or hybrids, the coil components within a box spring could actually wear down each respective material and counteract long-term durability and support. The usage of coils in a hybrid mattress actually mimics the performance of a box spring, so you don't actually need to use one. Pair a box spring with a hybrid and you've potentially got a 'too much of a good thing' situation on your hands. But let's say that you choose to continue down the path of the box spring—some brands may offer a version compatible with your mattress of choice. You can also cross-verify with customer service to see if a box spring would make an ideal pairing with your mattress. If your bed frame lacks slats or any sort of centralized support, that's a situation in favor of box springs. In that case, you can expect to shell out anywhere from under $100 to $300 for a box spring, depending on the size of mattress you have. But as a professional mattress tester, always keep the focus on the best mattress for you first, and then the subsequent accessories after. Your search shouldn't be, 'Can I find a bed to work with my box spring?' Support System FTW What should you be using for your mattress, then, if not a box spring? Plopping it on a bed frame with central support beams, a mattress foundation, or a smart bed base are all viable options. This is another warranty caveat—make sure that with whatever you choose, your base has the support required by your mattress's warranty coverage. This could mean the wooden slats are a certain number of inches apart, or confirmation that there's a support beam running vertically through the base to keep the center from sagging. Some models, like the Wolf Memory Foam Hybrid, actually supply a base with your purchase, so you're covered from the jump. Even better news: We're on top of testing bed frames, too.
