Palestine High School Alumni Association

Bascom Bentley

07 / 31 / 1923  –  01 / 06 / 1994

Dr. Bascom W. Bentley, Jr., who practiced medicine in Palestine for more than four decades, died Thursday at age 70.

Services will be at 3 p.m. Saturday at Palestine City Cemetery with Dr. Tom Rousseau and the Rev. Mike Hull officiating. Burial will be under the direction of Herrington/Land of Memory.

Dr. Bentley died at Trinity Valley Medical Center after a brief illness.

A native of Palestine, he was born July 31, 1923, to Bascom W. and Menta Hockaday Bentley.

He was a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas Medical School in Galveston.

During World War II, Dr. Bentley served as a doctor in the U.S. Army in the Pacific Theater.

After the war, he established a private practice in Fairfield. He practiced there for two years before returning to Palestine. Dr. Bentley was chief surgeon at Missouri Pacific Hospital in Palestine until it closed.

After many years of private practice in Palestine, he served as medical director for the Texas Department of Corrections and also practiced at Rusk State Hospital. Dr. Bentley was still practicing medicine at the time of his death.

Dr. Bentley is survived by his wife, Kelly Newell Bentley of Palestine; sons, Judge Bascom W. Bentley III and Dr. G. Newell Bentley, both of Palestine; daughter, Mrs. James (Belle) Todd of Palestine; and 10 grandchildren.

Pallbearers will be Loyd James, Dr. Don Carroll, Dr. Dean Wintermough, R.E. Thompson, Judge James Todd, William George, Murray Baxter, Pat Ferguson, Bud Wommack, Jim Bob Paxton, Ernest Swift, Dr. Emmitt McCall, Billy Gragg, Cliff Johnson, Tucker Farrris and Ron Johnson.

The family will receive condolence calls from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. today at the funeral home.

Source: Palestine Herald-Press 01-07-1994