Obituary of David Duane Bentsen

David Duane Bentsen, 59, of Bayou Vista, Texas, devoted husband, step-father and grandpa, passed away on Saturday, March 16^th, after a long and courageous battle with cancer.

David was born to Ronald and Marybeth “Bunny” Bentsen on October 1, 1964, at the U.S. Army Hospital in Zama, Kanagawa-ken, Japan, where he lived until age 5. The family moved to Germany for five years before settling in Conyers, Georgia where David attended school and graduated from Heritage High School.

In 2004, David moved to Houston, Texas for a job, where he managed apartments and the St. Germain Condominiums in downtown Houston. He later became a United States Postal Service mail carrier in Pearland for 10 years until his disability retirement.

In 2010, he met his lovely bride, Mary, on a bicycle trip with the Bayou City Outdoors group. Mary had a flat tire during one of the group bike rides and David offered to fix the tire. The rest is history. 

David was very laid back, always happy and smiling, and had the BEST spirit during his treatment. David had an absolute love of ocean and river cruising. He and Mary were frequent cruisers and took many trips (too many to count) to the Western & Eastern Caribbean. His favorite cruises were his last 3, including an ocean cruise to Alaska, river cruise to Budapest, Germany, and Netherlands, and an ocean cruise throughout Italy, Greece and Turkey.

David was preceded in death by his parents, Ronald Bentsen, and Marybeth “Bunny” Bentsen. He is survived by

his loving wife, Mary (Gathright), stepdaughter, Pamela Tingle and husband Jared, stepdaughter, Samantha Gathright and husband Billy Putch, granddaughters, Peyton and Tatum Tingle, grandsons, Hunter and Hayden Putch, sister, Laura Bentsen and husband, John Vlha, brother Jim Bentsen, and brother, Brian Bentsen and wife Lisa, along with many loving nieces, nephews, family, and friends.

David will be deeply missed by all but never forgotten.

In lieu of flowers please consider making a gift to the American Cancer Society in memory of David.