LATEST POSTING

October 9, 2010

Shawn would have 32 years old today

Today I woke up early and could not go back to sleep thinking of Shawn, last night I had dreams about Shawn.  So today on what would have been Shawn's 32nd Birthday I tribute this day to him.  I think of him all the time and miss him so much, I wish he was still here with us.   Even though Shawn and I had our bad times, I remember once when were were in Milton Hershey School, I had done something which I received a $5 bill for, and at the end of the school day I found my brother and pulled out the $5 to show him, he asked if he could see it, and took off running with it.  I never did get my $5 back, so yeah, things like that!  But throughout his life him and I were very close almost always.  There were days that I would sit and talk with him for hours and hours on end.  We would discuss anything from family or music, to what we hoped to achieve in our lifetimes.  Whatever plans Shawn would talk about for his life they were never modest.   When he would dream, he would dream big.  There was one point we discussed buying real estate, and we came up with a big plan to build up Harrisburg, mostly Downtown.  Along the riverfront we were planning to level various buildings to build "Bentzel Towers" which would be at least equal in size if not larger then the Strawberry Square.  I even worked on his project for my "Creative Project" while I was in attendence at the Middletown Area School District.    We talked of plans to buy projects such as the Farm Show Complex from the State and turn it into better structure with a large Conference Center and Hotel Project.  We even discussed plans to sponsor the building of a bridge, in my eyes, this project may have been the rehabbing, rebuilding of the walnut street bridge and extending it back to the west shore, as long as it would yeild the name Bentzel on it in somekind of large form for everyone to see.  Even in talks outside real estate Shawn had always dreamed big, he discussed his wish for a career in law enforcement, but it wasnt a local police officer he wished to be come, he wanted something more, the level of FBI Agent would have been what he was looking for.   He discussed plans of opening a motorcycle, and small engine repair shop, notice that wasnt to work in a shop, but to open himself, his dreams were always big.  Outside plans for making money, he had a love for the mountains and beach.  He loved the Catskill Mountains in New York at least as much as I.  I remember sitting with him on a deck in New York in the Catkills on vacation one time and we were drinking wine and he smelled his wine, and sat back and said "This right here is the life".  Together we explored the Catkills, sometimes we went up just to look at properties and returned the same day, sometimes we stayed over night.   Again, we always would dream big together, once I found a property he was estatic about, tons and tons of acres and we went to see it, it had wildlife everywhere, nothing like I had ever seen before in my life.  But mind you no matter where he or I decided on a property we wanted to make it our goal to buy to live, we always had to be within a 5-10 minute drive to one another, in the Catskills or in the Harrisburg Area.   He also discussed a dream of wanting to have a beach house in Atlantic City.   Shawn did have a dream of a wife and children, Shawn loved children.  He often talked parenting children through the foster care system, as he was once a part of through his childhood.  I believe he had a strong love for his family and his Mom and Dad, he often had strong resentment of them, due to the stuff we were subject to as children, but none the less I feel he loved them and his entire family dearly.  I remember his eyes would light up and he would almost always have a smile on his face whenever he seen his (our) Mom, or Momma as he would call her.    He would  always rub her head to mess up her hair and laugh like hell when he did it.  Not in any order as I am just writing my memories of Shawn as they come to mind but, something Shawn picked up as a child and continued through his adult life was building model cars, and he was great at it.   Shawn wouldnt be someone I would refer to as very handy, however he through self teaching, learned a lot of things, from repairing vehicles, doing his own oil changes, to home repair, normally if he seen someone else do it once he would try it on his own.  He worked Building Security almost throughout his entire adult life, and was good at it, he was promoted at different buildings to Shift Supervisor.  Shawn loved joking around with everyone, enjoyed trying new mixed drinks, and loved his Marboro cigerettes and peach tea.  When Shawn made time for it, he attended Martial Arts training and did well with it.  I would describe one of his heros to be Steven Seagal, he loved his movies, and a lot of his interests and goals in life were mirroring Steven Seagal, and he always spoke about him and spoke very highly of him.  Throughout Shawn's entire life he had a love of motorcycles and long to eventually own a stock of them but most importantly he loved Harley Davidson motorcycles.  Shawn seemed to love the State of Alaska but I do not believe he ever had the chance to visit there.   Shawn doubed the name Shawnee Indian, due to a haircut he had when he was in his mid teens, and it continues to last today for him.

This site was created and is maintained in loving memory of Shawn M. Bentzel '78-'08 by his Brother and Best Friend, Keith A. Bentzel, credit shall be given to William Bentzel Jr for photos and images.