Rio Grande Valley Oral Histories

Identifier

HCHC_Bentsen, Mary Margaret_2025-11-14

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Creation Date

11-14-2025

Description

Mary Margaret “Marge” Bentsen (born ca. 1930, Center, Texas), widow of Calvin Bentsen (1925–2024) and daughter-in-law of Elmer Bentsen, recounts the Danish-American Bentsen family’s migration from the harsh winters of South Dakota to the Rio Grande Valley in 1918–1919 and their role in the region’s citrus, banking, real estate, and civic development.

Drawn south by stories of strawberries at Christmas and the promise of year-round farming, the family settled along what became Bentsen Road. Elmer and Lloyd Bentsen Sr. formed a partnership that developed extensive citrus groves, operated the First National Bank chain across the Valley, and engaged in real estate. Marge describes the pre-freeze Mission and McAllen as a fragrant sea of citrus, the springtime scent of orange blossoms that once announced the Valley’s border miles away, and a time when major streets ended in dirt at Jackson Avenue.

After meeting Calvin at Hockaday/SMU in Dallas and marrying in 1949, Marge moved to the Valley in 1950. She chronicles Calvin’s entrepreneurial path: founding Tex-Air (one of the Valley’s first air-conditioning companies), banking directorships, mineral interests, real-estate ventures, and development of the Hidalgo flea market and shopping center. Both were deeply involved in civic life; Calvin as a founder and long-time vice-president of the Gladys Porter Zoo board, hospital trustee, and passionate conservationist and hunter; Marge in the founding of the International Museum of Art & Science (IMAS) and First Methodist Church activities.

The interview touches on the family’s sprawling achievements (U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen Jr., Secretary of the Interior Gail Norton, Congressman Ken Bentsen, architects, bankers, and ranchers), the restoration of the ca.-1860s Lacoma Ranch headquarters (now historically marked), and Marge’s gratitude for the strong work ethic, family closeness, and faith instilled by the immigrant generation. At 98, she reflects nostalgically yet appreciatively on the Valley’s transformation from citrus paradise to modern urban corridor, declaring it still “the most wonderful place to live.”

Format

.M4A, 128 kbps

Length

00:57:34

Language

English

Notes

Part of the Hidalgo County Historical Commission, RGV Legacy Anthology Collection.

Interview with Mary Margaret “Marge” Bentsen

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