Clayton Gene Bender

Clayton was brought up in a loving but strict Anabaptist farming family in Wellman, Iowa. He was rambunctious growing up. He and his friends frequently got in trouble for minor infractions. However, he met his first wife Wilma Marner in the community and they began life as farmers and stewards of his family farm. As he matured, he felt stifled by the commitment required to a small traditional farming community. His adult life was one of service to others buttressed by a strong spiritual nature.

He was trained as a radiologic technologist while in the Alternative Service Program in Colorado. They had three children: Brent, Angela and Randall. The boys survive him.

With his keen intellect, medical knowledge and people skills, he was tapped to be the administrator of small facilities in the West/Midwest. With his daughter’s developmental delay, he later parlayed his personal experience into running a facility for those like her. He was invited many times to address groups about the needs and care of the developmentally delayed.

He and his second wife Susan, also a medical administrator, enjoyed traveling, visiting the national parks, live theater, and singing in choirs. On a trip to London, they often double-dipped, attending two plays in a day.

Susan passed in July 2021 and a few months later Clayton was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. His step-daughter and caregiver Amy was with him during this difficult time.

Clayton was an avid reader, a staunch supporter of the small group movement, a story teller with a command of detail, a talker as well as a listener, a peacemaker and a role model. This was especially true the last two years of his life as he accepted the scourge of cancer as a challenge to live one day at a time. He faced this period with uncommon grace & gratitude. He is deeply missed but lives on in our lives and in eternity with Susan.