This hasn’t been an easy week for me.
Aside from regular newspaper duties, I’ve been coming to grips with the death of my best friend, Ben.
He passed away this past Sunday morning after a three-year battle with cancer.
Ben and I met on our first day of community college back in the fall of 2001.
He was sitting behind me in English Comp.
About a week into school, Ben told me that he had discovered that the previous occupant of his dorm room had cable TV, and apparently, the cable company had not pulled the plug during the summer months.
Later that afternoon, I was at Ben’s, sitting on a Mississippi State bean bag, watching Saving Silverman on his free Showtime broadcast.
Pretty soon, we had a growing but tight circle of friends that included my brother, Chris and Ben’s roommate, Dan.
Over the course of the next decade, we spent most holidays together, although many were weeks before or after Christmas, due to Ben’s work schedule. We took trips and followed each other’s careers in media.
Ben served as best man at mine and Callie’s wedding in 2012.
By then, Ben was a rising star in Lake Charles, La. as morning meteorologist at KPLC.
Although he was born and raised in Kosciusko, Ben called Lake Charles his home.
He loved the city and the people, and the city and the people loved him back.
Ben was passionate about meteorology and broadcasting in general.
Up until a few months ago, he was still volunteering his time at a radio station, playing oldies tunes on a nighttime show near his home in southwest Louisiana.
More than his job and all his media-related hobbies, though, Ben loved Jesus.
Everything he ever did turned out to be mission work.
Ben was active at the Baptist Student Union at Holmes CC and at MSU, where he graduated with an emphasis in broadcast meteorology.
He went on every mission trip he could, including helping kids in inner city Memphis.
Ben spent multiple summers at Camp Barnabas in Missouri, a camp for kids with special needs.
Of course, it didn’t take Ben long to start running the media department during those summers at camp.
Meteorology is important anywhere, but in southwest Louisiana, during hurricane season, it is mission work.
Rest assured, there are people alive today because they listened to Ben during the many major storms that hit that part of the state during his time there.
One of those storms, Hurricane Laura in 2020, destroyed Ben’s home and his TV station.
Ben did not use his platform to lament, but rather to talk about how thankful he was that he was spared during that storm.
Just three months after Laura, Ben was diagnosed with cancer.
Again, there was never a whimper of a “Woe is me” attitude.
He faced it head-on, knowing that God is in control.
He stayed on the air until just a few months ago, often doing weather reports remotely from his hotel room near M.D. Anderson in Houston.
Ben did not want it said that he lost his battle with cancer.
He said he was going to be a winner, no matter the outcome.
It’s hard to think that way in a fallen world, but it’s the truth.
Ben always was a winner, but nothing compares to having victory in Jesus.
Rest well, friend.
