Bense was born in New Jersey, but grew up in Panama City, Florida, where she lived on her family's dairy farm with both parents and two brothers.
By the time she was eight, she knew she wanted to be an archaeologist, a decision heavily influenced by family trips to historical state parks.
Her master's thesis research, working with David S. Phelps, focused on a Late Woodland shell ring located in Wakulla County, Florida.
[4] In 1972, Bense graduated and moved back to Florida to help take care of her family in the light of both her parents' deaths, her father in 1967 and mother in 1972.
[3] Bense spent the next five years focusing on business endeavors related to her family's north Florida farm.
[citation needed] Next, Bense headed the cultural resource reconnaissance of the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge on the Florida Gulf Coast from 1977–1978.
[7] Bense made a deal with UWF to bring her CRM contracts to the school if they agreed to allow her to establish an anthropology program.
[1] In 1984, a new city hall was constructed in downtown Pensacola and in the process unearthed and destroyed some of the town's colonial history.
Bense led a short salvage project and in the process recognized the importance of educating local community members and leaders about the archaeological and historical resources in their very backyard.
The company was building a new headquarters on a known Middle Woodland period site and a historic African American neighborhood known as Hawkshaw.