SAN DIEGO — When was the last time every person in your family gathered under one roof?
In this Zevely Zone, I headed to Bay Park for a family reunion unlike any other. There's no easy way to say this, so I am just going to come out with it; this story is about BARFING. The Bentley family has four siblings. "I'm Craig, I'm Andrea, I'm Brian and I'm Chris," said the Bentleys who all got married. "Hi I'm Peggy, I'm Tom, I'm Claudia and I'm Mary," said their spouses.
As much as the Bentley kids loved their parents, they learned from their mistakes.
"They fought a lot in their marriage," said Andrea.
Craig added, "They had six marriages between the two of them."
So, when the Bentley boys and girl decided that when they got hitched to that special someone, it had to be for life. "We've been married for 35 years," said Craig and Peggy.
"We've been married for 49 years," said Andrea and Tom.
"We've been married for 56 years," said Brian and Claudia.
"We've been married for 60 years," said Chris and Mary.
What makes their 2024 family reunion special is if you add up all of those years combined it's 200 years!
You're probably wondering about the BARFING, I mentioned.
Well, when their mother died, she left an inheritance, that was set aside for family reunions. They called that fund the Bentley Annual Reunion Fund which stands for..."BARF," laughed the family.
When I asked who came up with the concept. "Brian did," they said. "I have a twisted mind," said Brian. Craig added, "His wife has been disappointed with that ever since."
Together they've traveled the world with gatherings in Europe, Hawaii, and Alaska.
"Every year all of our friends know to ask us, 'So where are you BARFING this year'?" said Craig. The family keeps growing and so does the lore of four original marriages without a single divorce. With 39 grandkids between them, let's hear it for the Bentley's biggest barf ever.
I asked them if they would clean up the rental home after they BARF all weekend. "We pay the cleaning fee," laughed Craig. This was the 20th Bentley Family Reunion, they held it in San Diego because this city was where the BARFs began.