SMITH, Carol Jean (Hopper) - b. December 12, 1939 - d. December 11, 2018

[patyrn]

Carol Jean Smith, age 78 of Ventura, California, passed away December 11, 2018 in Ventura.  She was born Carol Jean Hopper on December 12, 1939 in a farm house in Cloverdale, Kansas.  She later moved to a farm near Moline, Kansas with her parents and sisters and attended Moline High School, graduating with the Class of 1957.

After moving to Wichita, Kansas in 1961, she met her future husband, Ed Bentley.  Two children, Dana and Jay, were born from this union, and four years later, the family moved to Saugus, California.  Carol moved reluctantly, but the move to the warmer climate gradually grew on her.  In 1976 after a second marriage, Carol and the children made another move to Woodland Hills, California where she stayed for the next forty years.

Carol loved dancing and would dance with her friends whenever she could.  However, her love of the farm and love of the land never left her.  She loved to garden, and her front yard was always her pride and joy.  Carol was also a good cook and made amazing midwestern food.  The family joke of how she managed to stay so thin was that the food was gone by the time she sat down at the table to eat.  Carol moved to Ventura in 2014 when she moved into the Ventura Townehouse.  There she made some wonderful friends and enjoyed the camaraderie as well as the incredible ocean/Channel Island view.

Carol leaves behind her daughter, Dana Bentley and husband, Tom Murphy and her son, Jay Bentley and wife, Natalia Fabia; grandchildren, Miles, Hunter, and Peribeau; her sisters, JoAn (Bill), Barbara (Bob) and Wanda (Charles); and many nieces and nephews.

Graveside services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, December 22, 2018 at Greenlawn Cemetery in Grenola, Kansas.  Online condolences may be left for the family at www.countrysidefh.com.  Services have been entrusted to Countryside Funeral Home, 206 E. Washington, Howard, Kansas 67349.

(taken from the Countryside Funeral Home website)