Roseann Bentley, public servant and champion for education and Missouri children, mourned

Roseann Knauer Bentley, a champion for education and the first woman elected to the state Senate from southwest Missouri, died July 14 in Springfield. She was 89.

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