At Home

At Home with the Bentzels

MIXING LOVE AND FAITH BUILDS FAMILY OF 8

WRITER: ZIRCONIA ALLEYNE

The Bentzels are a bustling bunch. There’s Chris — a Pennsylvania bred Army veteran who was just named superintendent of Christian County Public Schools. There’s his wife Kelly, a hometown belle who teaches at South Christian Elementary. There’s their oldest daughter, Sarah, and her husband, Charlie — both Christian County High School grads who got married three years ago after reconnecting. And then there’s the littles - Benjamin, 7, Caroline, 6, Jaycee, 3, and Everlee, 2.

The Bentzels have a full house that’s filled with family, faith and love.

Before being named superintendent, Chris was principal at several local schools — Lacy Elementary, Christian County Middle and Christian County High. Before that, he taught fifth grade at Belmont Elementary from 2005 to 2009 and served as a pilot in the U.S. Army for 10 years prior.

Getting stationed at Fort Campbell is actually how Chris met Kelly and her 4-year-old daughter at the time, Sarah.

“We met through friends and we started dating, and then 9/11 happened and I was going to get sent to Iraq,” he said. “We had intentions on getting married, but we decided to do it before I left.”

Chris and Kelly tied the knot in November 2002, and Chris left for Iraq at the end of January 2003.

“I was in Iraq for eight months, then I was in Central America for a year, and we decid

ed it was too much time away from home, so then I got out and we lived in Hopkinsville,” he said. “I became a teacher and she went back to school.”

Bentzel said with Kelly’s parents in Hopkinsville and the desire for Sarah to grow up close to them, the couple decided to settle down here.

“I like it here,” he said. “It’s very family oriented and our family is here.”

Sarah, now 23, said growing up in Hopkinsville is also an upbringing she cherishes.

“It’s a really close community, and I love that, “ Sarah said. “You get to go to school with the same people you go to church with. And like he said, our family is here, so it’s pretty rare that you can say you grew up with your family right down the road.”

Charlie, a third-generation farmer, said he loves the agriculture roots. His family is big in the hay outfit as well as custom harvesting of wheat, beans and corn.

As a young Hopkinsville couple, Sarah and Charlie love having friends over and going on Friday night dates to Davos.

“A lot of people are coming back to this area,” Sarah said. “Friends that we knew in high school are moving back and we’re all at the same point in our lives.”

Chris said as a former teacher, principal and now superintendent, hearing that his former students are returning home to live makes his desire for the city and schools to succeed even stronger.

“We have a responsibility to produce good schools,” he said. “There are people coming back and there are people staying, and we want to give them the best schools as they start families. That’s what our charge is going to be for the next 10 years.”

Additionally, their youngest four children will attend the public schools. Ben and Caroline are going into second and first grade respectively at South Christian this fall.

“I’m excited about wrestling again,” said Ben, who started his own YouTube channel during the pandemic.

“I’m excited about first grade and seeing my friends again,” said Caroline, a social butterfly and lip gloss enthusiast.

Chris said Ben, Caroline and Jaycee came into their family through foster care.

Shortly after a miscarriage in 2016, Chris and Kelly found out about foster parenting from CCPS Pupil Personnel Director Melanie Barrett.

Chris Bentzel watches Jaycee, Caroline and Ben ride out on their four-wheelers and bicycle.

Photo by Zirconia Alleyne

Caroline and Ben pose for a quick photo.

“In a year, we went from zero (kids in the house) to four,” Chris laughed, noting that they got pregnant with Everlee while fostering the three siblings. “We had a baby, a 1-year-old, (Caroline) was 4 and (Ben) was 5 — we’re a blended family but we’re happy.”

The Bentzels adopted the trio last June.

“We went to the courthouse and got adopted,” Ben said proudly.

Sarah said it’s great to have a big age gap between her and her siblings because her kids will get to grow up close to their aunts and uncle.

Chris said outside of school, church and family, there’s not much free time, so it’s all incorporated together.

“When I was at Christian County High School, the kids would always go to everything with us — basketball games, football games, the two girls one year went to prom with us — it’s just about integrating the two families,” he said. “So, the balance is we don’t do much outside of school, church and home.”

At home, the crew enjoys sitting down for a takeout meal from Four Seasons or the new Butter and Grace.

“She does the hard work, and there’s no clean up,” Kelly said. “We order from there and Four Seasons, and that takes us through the week.”

Their favorites from Butter and Grace are the pizzas, the pork roast, the taco casserole and pastas. Four Seasons favorites are the chicken wraps and pasta salad.

During the summer, the Bentzels love swimming, visiting family and going to the Y. The school year is filled with sports games and other school events.

“Being a high school principal, I have a lot of babysitter access, so (Kelly and I) try to go out once a month,” he said, noting that they like eating at the Horseshoe.

Kelly said adopting through foster care was a life-changing decision that she’s happy they chose. Although their home is closed to new fosters, Kelly still advocates for the program.

“Try to go through foster care if that’s something you feel led to do,” she said. “There’s a lot of local support.”

As far as adding more Bentzels to the bunch, Kelly said they’re good on that front.

“We are done,” she said laughing. “We hope to be welcoming grandchildren soon.”

Ben loads up his YouTube channel on his tablet.

Caroline slicks on her favorite lip gloss.

WE WENT TO THE COURTHOUSE AND GOT ADOPTED. — BEN BENTZEL ”