Rich Bentley’s father got him interested in working with his hands at a young age.
“He used to build gyrocopters,” Bentley said. “He was also a kickboxer.”
Bentley said his father died in a helicopter crash in the early ’90s, but not before he had helped him learn to work with welding and other skills.
“He wanted to teach us a skill,” Bentley said.
Bentley said that his uncle later helped him get into the sheet metal union.
Eventually, the born-and-raised Cottonwood native headed down to Phoenix, where he worked at a large auto shop, where he worked with custom cars, including those with hydraulics.
Much of his work focused on providing the vehicles with premium paint jobs.
Bentley enjoyed the work, but an injury he suffered forced him to eventually stop.
The injury was serious and Bentley had to focus on his health for a while.
Coming back to the Verde Valley, Bentley went into business for himself.
Using his skills with welding and metal, Bentley created a mobile cooking station devoted to making tacos.
To read the full story, see the Wednesday, Sept. 3, edition of The Camp Verde Journal.
