Friday, August 11, 2006
Dustin Bentley’s friends called him a great listener and the best human being they knew — a guy who just enjoyed life. His girlfriend had a nickname for him: “Panda.”
The Prairie Village sophomore died Aug. 7 after collapsing in the shower at his home.
Bentley, 19, was preparing to see his girlfriend, Laura Kitzmiller, Prairie Village freshman.
“He was just the best guy,” Kitzmiller said. Monday “would have been our year and a half anniversary.”
An autopsy has been performed, but it will be several weeks or months before a cause of death is known. A memorial service celebrating his life took place at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Unity Temple on the Plaza, 707 W. 47th Street, Kansas City, Mo.
Bentley, who lived in Jayhawker Towers during the school year, planned to major in industrial design. He loved tattoos.
Kitzmiller and several of her and Bentley’s friends plan to get memorial tattoos. Kitzmiller wants one of a panda on her right leg, along with a Bentley motto. “It’s all good.”
He was born Jan. 20, 1987, at his family’s former home in Peculiar, Mo. He is survived by Kitzmiller, his parents Eileen Wilson Bentley and Mark Bentley and his brothers, Tom and Sam.
Bentley attended Shawnee Mission East High School, where he met Kitzmiller. The couple enjoyed movie nights and shared a love for design.
“He was so kind to everyone and he was such a hard guy not to like,” Kitzmiller said. “He always wanted to help people who needed help.”
Kansan staff writer David Linhardt can be contacted at dlinhardt@kansan.com.
— Edited by Elyse Weidner
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