R.I.P. Carl Bentson 10-27-1974 to 12-18-2024 

Notebook Recollections

Sunday, August 3, 2025, 5:45 p.m. 

West 7th’s C.S.P.S. Hall was emptied out. Lights down, chairs and tables folded and put away.

The band was packing instruments and coiling microphone cables. The beautiful 140 year-old wood floor was being swept, polished. 

This was Carl‘s party. The Mr. Positive memorial. Carl was surely watching us from above, likely aching to be behind a big pushbroom.

Over 200 people had been there to miss him. To celebrate him. Friends and neighbors -Bill Quinn, Kent Peterson, Mary Garcia. Mike Hazard, Sue and Dave Thune, Becky and John Yust. Stuart Loughbridge. Carl’s best friend and guardian, Karen Koeppe. 

Of course Karen was there. She was always there for Carl. His brother Robert, sister Barb and several other relatives were welcome, surprise guests.

About 10 proud as punch Bridgeview School teachers and staff were there in force. Carl was a famous BVS grad and then a sanitation engineer there for decades until he passed.

Marni, one of those teachers, said on mic, “Carl made good use of every gift he was born with.”

C.S.P.S. program manager Dawn had arranged and watched over a magnificent celebration. Adult beverages were sold. Wonderful West 7th food gifted from Mancini’s, Cosetta’s, the Downtowner and Day By Day cheered up the many gathered digestive systems.

There were speeches, testimonials and we-love-you’s from Carl’s people. Humor, wisdom and sadness ran amok.

It was unanimous. Carl loved and was loved.

We won’t be seeing Carl and his trusty three-wheeler all over West 7th anymore. Never hear his “how ya doing?” again. And never see his lights.

Everywhere his lights. On his three-wheeler bike or his helmet and orange jacket. On his yard trees and fence. And his house! Hundreds of holiday lights on his St. Clair Home. Every day, all day – all night, all year long.

Filmmaker Mike Hazard thinks Carl is light. Good friend Bill Quinn says Carl lights up the world. Karen Koeppe, Carl’s person and close friend, says Carl is all about cleaning, helping and making things look good.

Carl was an automobile nut and loved the Minnesota State Fair. A good combination. For years, Carl went to the fair every day of its run and spent a lot of time with the classic car displays. He knew almost as much about the hot rods as their owners.

My brother Dan and I played music for many years at the Farmers Union state fair building from 1 to 9 p.m. Carl watched us one year and helped us load out our gear. I got to drive my SUV into the fair grounds to get our stuff. 

Then Carl rode around the fair with Dan and me at 9:30 p.m. We three all in my truck. While the fair was still near full-tilt! We all felt like big shots .We even ordered six pronto pups (“lots of mustard please”) through the truck windows! 

IN THE FAIRGROUNDS! From my Truck!!

There are lots of great Carl stories. His was the got-to go-to house every Halloween. A bottle of pop AND a big Hersey’s bar per trick or treater! He’d pull in 130 kids! Sometimes having to give away his own food.

There’s a recorded song about Carl (Dan Rumsey). He’s been heralded in both the big Mpls and St. Paul papers and most of the neighborhood monthlys. There’s even a fab movie about him by Mike Hazard on You Tube.

Of course W 7th Hall of Fame cab driver, Tex DuBois, knew Carl. Appreciated Carl. Tex told me he worried about Carl for a while but then figured out Carl was watching out for him. “The guy is some kind of Saint,” Tex 

said, “or Arch Angel.”

Carl was raised by his foster mom,Vashti Risdal in St.Paul’s Mac-Groveland neighborhood. He often visited her grave site where he brought his own clippers to clean up her grave stone.

Then he’d recite his prayer to her :

God, dear

you hold our hearts in the palms of your hands

Please give us your peace

We thank you

We love you

We miss you 

Forever, Amen