Ridgeway, MO: Earl Dean Bender, 63, of Ridgeway, Missouri, passed away on Friday April 24, 2026, at his residence at Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri.
Earl was born on February 25, 1963, in Trenton, Missouri, the son of Roy E. and Rosezetta A. (Wax) Bender. Earl spent most of his life around Mt. Moriah and Ridgeway, Missouri. He attended school in Ridgeway and did not care very much about his common core subjects but excelled at his Vo-Tech classes of welding, auto body, and mechanics. Earl graduated from Ridgeway High School in 1982. Shortly after graduating, he married his high school sweetheart, Sandra Lynn Cain. To this union two children were born: Steven W. Cain and Gary L. Marsh.
After his graduation and marriage, Earl went out on the road doing road construction in Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas. He returned home briefly in 1985 when his father passed away and shortly after, in 1986, he and Sandra divorced. He came home to run the gas station repair shop on Main Street (old Texaco station) and ran it until approximately 2000. During this time, he met Diann Cunningham, who moved to Ridgeway in 1997. They soon became a steady couple and could always be seen at softball and basketball games and track meets of any one of Diann’s three children (Jenny, Jared, and Justin).
In 2003, Earl became a full-time father to those children when their mother got deployed to Iraq with the Missouri Army National Guard. While they were not his blood children, he had accepted them as if they were his own. He stepped up when he didn’t have to and taught them how to drive cars, make grilled cheese sandwiches on a porcelain top stove, and how to cook pizza in the oven while just using the oven grate! When Diann returned home, they picked back up like she had never been gone.
During this time, Earl had closed the repair shop and had gone to work for the solid waste company located in Bethany, Missouri, and would later go on to start his own independent trash service of Ridgeway Solid Waste in 2007. He ran it up until his untimely passing in 2026. People say behind every cloud there is a silver lining. Well one could hope that in death there could be something positive, and that was that Earl was in a place that he felt at peace and loved being at his weekend retreat home in Lake of The Ozarks putting the finishing touches to their home down there with his loyal companion “Little Man, Killa, or Gator” as some would call him. Who was a 4.6-pound chihuahua who thought he was ten foot tall and bulletproof.
Earl was preceded in death by his parents; infant sister, Lynda Gale Bender; sister-in-law, Nancy Bender; nieces, Leah Richardson and Tracey Crossley; and his favorite uncle, Dean Bender. He is survived by his sisters, Francis (Gary) Bender of Eagleville, MO and Kathy (Ronnie) Richardson of Hatfield, MO; brother, Roy Bender of Climax Springs, MO; sons, Steven Cain of Stanberry, MO and Gary (Courtney) Marsh of Bethany, MO; his companion of 28 years, Diann Cunningham of Ridgeway, MO; children, Jenniffer (Henry) Chapman of Maryville, MO, Jared (Chris) Cunningham of Fayetteville, NC, and Justin (Fale) Cunningham of North Kansas City, MO; grandchildren, Conner Marsh, Mickey Marsh, Lana Cain, Jalyn Cain, Mason Cain, Lafe Chapman, Kailee Chapman, Hayden Chapman, Haylee Chapman, Justine Cunningham, Malcolm Lightner, and Lennox Cunningham; great grandson, Wrynn Chapman; and numerous cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends.
A visitation will be from 6:00 – 8:00 PM on Wednesday, April 29, 2026 at Roberson Funeral Home, 1107 S. 25th St., Bethany, MO 64424. Funeral services will be at 10:00 AM on Thursday, April 30, 2026 at the funeral home. Burial will follow in the Rose Hill Cemetery in Ridgeway, MO. Memorials and contributions are suggested to the Rose Hill Cemetery. Online condolences can be left at www.robersonfuneralhome.com.
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