She was an elegant woman. Always dressed nice with a smile on her lips and a twinkle in her eye.

For many years she was among a few ladies in town who represented the town in a dignified and friendly manner. Ladies like Peg Tibbetts and Eve-lyn Breting.

Having been in charge of the Chamber Visitors Center for decades, Elea-nor Bentson greeted countless tourists and other visitors to our lovely burg.

Who knows how many people ended up moving here because of Eleanor’s warm greeting and strong embrace?

Yet she was strong-willed as well. Eleanor didn’t hesitate to tell you how she thought things should be. She loved gov-ernment, politics, the Re-publican Party, her collec-tion of elephants. She loved getting people elect-ed and issues passed.

I received a text last week from Congressman David Schweikert. It’s not often you get a text from a federal lawmaker. Some big scoop he wanted to tell me about? A huge corruption scandal in Washington? He was running for President? No, something more important. He had a professional photograph of Eleanor he wanted to forward to me.

He talked how Eleanor influenced him early on, urging the young Realtor at the time to become president of the Fountain Hills Republican Club.

David was already hooked by then, of course, and being involved as an elected official has been his life since that time.

Many government offi-cials involved in politics owe a debt of gratitude to Eleanor for her steadfast-ness, hard work and commitment.

She and husband Ralph moved here in 1978. They helped found the Republican Club here, and Eleanor started the Fountain Lake Republican Women’s Club. Over the years she served in a variety of local and state committee positions for the Republican Party. She volunteered for so many other organizations, too.

John Cutillo, our town’s first mayor, has said El-eanor was instrumental in getting the town incor-porated.

She was friends to so many people. She was the Fountain Hills “grandma” to my boys when they were young and growing.

What a delight to cele-brate her 95th birthday back in 2013. So many people were able to get up and pay tribute to such a wonderful woman.

Eleanor was always there for her two daugh-ters, Cassie Hansen and Pam Aister. When Pam’s daughter Michelle was suffering from the cancer that eventually claimed her young life, Eleanor was the family rock.

Thanks for the memo-ries, Eleanor, and thank you for your elegance, sound advice and encour-agement. Thank you for making Fountain Hills such a better place. You will live on forever through the spirits of those who persevere in town here.

For those who have been asking, a celebration of life service to honor El-eanor will be held at Christ’s Church at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3.