Thanks to a nudge from Steve Watrous, I’m going to try to give a brief summary of the last 40 or so years.

The River's Bends. After high school I went to Oberlin College, in Ohio, graduating in 1967, and from there moved on to New Haven, where I studied law at Yale University, graduating in 1970. In 1970 I married Judy McBride, whom I had met at Oberlin, and we lived in various brownstones in Brooklyn throughout the '70s. During that decade I had a series of government jobs – as a law clerk for a judge, as a legal services attorney, and as a prosecutor. In 1981, we moved to Seattle, where I'd been offered a job as a public defender in the federal court. I continued in that job until 1988, when I transitioned into the private sector. The primary focus of my legal practice continues to be helping people in trouble. For many years Judy has taught English composition at a community college.

The Headwaters. My parents, ages 89 and 87, still live in the home on Monroe Heights that they bought when we moved to Cortland in 1959. My brother lives on Groton Ave, a few blocks away. Dad closed Bentley's Hardware in 1997. I try to get back to Cortland once or twice a year. Between visits, my mother sends me clippings from The Cortland Standard and keeps me informed of local happenings.

The View Downstream. Judy and I have two children, Anne and Peter, and one grandchild, Monica (soon to be one year old). Anne is 31 and single. She served in the Peace Corps in Africa and has a Ph.D., in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Later in 2007 she'll be moving to Portland, Oregon to take a teaching position at a small liberal arts college. Peter is 27, married, and Monica's father. Peter went to art school in Baltimore, came back to Seattle and earned advanced degrees in art at the University of Washington, and now works as an artist for a video game company here. You can see his work at www.bentleyfineart.com.

"Just Paddlin' (or Pedalin') Around." A few years ago I got into cycling. I often bike the eight miles to work. Western Washington holds certain challenges for cyclists. Like parts of upstate New York, the area was gouged by retreating glaciers, leaving deep valleys now partially filled with water (among them, Puget Sound and Lake Washington). The parts that were left between the gouges now stick out as islands or steep hilly ridges. My commuting route, however, is level and mostly on a bike-path along the water's edge.

Every year for the past several years I’ve done a multi-day, organized ride involving hundreds of riders – last year's was the “Bon Ton Roulet,” a week-long ride around the Finger Lakes.

Anything else? I read a lot. I like to cook. I’m active in my church.


"And in Conclusion …" Life's been good – not that there haven't been the usual failures, disappointments, sorrows, regrets and mistakes, but there've been no catastrophes, no dams blocking the flow to … wherever. Whatever ocean all our separate rivers flow to.


-- Al Bentley
Seattle, January 2007