Bentley Avenue was named not for the famed automobile, but for a Tucson family whose most prominent member helped improve education and health-care opportunities for the area's poorest residents.
Evalyn Bentley was born in Friend, Neb., in 1878. Her parents, Randall and Sarah Bentley, of Canada, had five children together. After Randall Bentley died, the family moved to Arizona in 1914.
That same year, Evalyn Bentley traveled by horseback to the Hopi Indian Reservation to assist in the development and improvement of the nation. She served as a field nurse, home economist, lawyer and doctor for the Hopi families.
She later became a home demonstration agent for Pima County, and in this role she organized programs that aided families with cooking, sewing and other items related to home management in rural Arizona. She also established a 4-H club.
Bentley paved the way for better education, health, and home life for Southern Arizona by introducing health and homemaking programs for rural housewives, and propelling Pima's first adult extension classes. One of the programs she introduced to the county, the "Keep Growing Project," offered free medical and dental services in rural areas and county schools.
The program was such a success that it later became part of the Pima County Health Center.
In 1947, Bentley retired from her home demonstration work in Pima County. She worked as Pima's home demonstration agent for 26 years and received honorable mention for her achievements at the First Presbyterian Church.
In 1960, while crossing Speedway on her way to church, Bentley and a friend were struck and killed by a car; she was 82 years old.
Bentley Avenue runs north-south between North Tucson Boulevard and North Country Club Road and between East Pima Street and East Grant Road.
The street was named after the family, which owned land west of Country Club Road. Mabel Bentley, who was Evalyn's sister, married a member of the Stewart family, and that is where the name of the street next to it came from.
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Each week the Star tells the stories behind Tucson street names. If you have streets to suggest or stories to share, contact writer David Leighton at streetsmarts@azstarnet.com.
Alexa Tulk is a library assistant at the Arizona Historical Society. Sources: Special thanks to Michael Huntley of Thomas Reprographics. Arizona Daily Star archives Tucson Citizen archives "Pioneer Demonstration Agent Retires After 26 Years Here," undated newspaper clipping in Tucson's Arizona Historical Society clipbook. "Silver Jubilee for Pima County's Evalyn Bentley." Undated newspaper clipping in Arizona Historical Society clipbook. E.C. Smith, SR/WA Saguaro Chapter 73, International Right of Way Association, October 1987, "Tucson Trivia" Evalyn Bentley, "Presimeda Pass," Feb. 1, 1929, The Associated Arizona Producer
