Ben's Eagle Award

I am so proud of Ben. He is such a kind, caring, determined, and intelligent young man. On Saturday, November 6, 2021 he was awarded his Eagle (just in the nick of time) at an outdoor ceremony at our local Oxford park.

Ben started attending scouts when we lived in Malad (a town about 30 minutes away from where we now live). Malad has some incredible scout leaders who really care about the boys. When our church separated themselves from the scouting program, these leaders formed a community troop (troop 1776) and continued on with their great work of teaching boys valuable skills and essential values to be successful in life. Since our move to Oxford (over six years ago) they have been persistent in keeping our boys involved with their scouting troop. As a result Enoch was able to receive his Eagle a few years back and now Ben has received that same award.

When Ben first started thinking about Eagle project ideas he really wanted to build a play set for the park. As he started to research what it would take to complete such a project he realized that he would not have time to complete it by his 18th birthday. His thoughts then turned to building a bench to donate to the park. He then had the amazing idea to dedicate it to the oldest living man in our community, Dee Boyce, who has served our country (US Navy at the end of WWII) and community in countless ways, including serving as our local historian for years. The oldest homestead in Oxford, that was his great-grandfather's that was settled in 1864. The home still exists and is located on Dee's property. He has made that home into a little museum by gathering a variety of historical documents and artifacts through the years and he openly welcomes anyone to visit and become more acquainted with the history of the Oxford area. When Ben dedicated the Bench to Dee at the ceremony Dee in return presented Ben with a lovely book on the history of Oxford with colored pictures and all.

As part of the ceremony Ben's father, Larry, gave an inspirational talk. In his talk he shared the following poem entitled "Good Timber" by Douglas Malloch. This was such a powerful message coming from Larry given that he is currently battling stage IV pancreatic cancer and Ben has battled the disease of ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) since he was born.

The tree that never had to fight

For sun and sky and air and light,

But stood out in the open plain
     And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
     But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who never had to toil
     To gain and farm his patch of soil,
Who never had to win his share
     Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man
     But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow with ease,
     The stronger wind, the stronger trees,
The further sky, the greater length,
     The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
     In trees and men good timbers grow.

Where thickest lies the forest growth
     We find the patriarchs of both.
And they hold counsel with the stars
     Whose broken branches show the scars
Of many winds and much of strife.
     This is the common law of life.

The bench turned out beautifully and the weather was decent as well. Ben presented the parent pins, two mentor pins, and a grandparent pin as part of the ceremony. Brian Hennessy, a local neighbor who opened up his shop and mentored Ben through the whole building process, received one of the mentor pins. The other pin was given to Ben's scout leader, Tony McClain, who has been the persistent rock behind making this all happen. A grandparent pin was presented to his grandmother, Trudy Ward. Trudy has served as a merit badge counselor for years and was very instrumental in helping Ben complete some of his badges.

The event was well attended. We had people from as far away as Maryland (Dee's daughter) come for the event, his Aunt Janice drove eight hours from NV to be here, and a group of family drove three hours from Utah County to join us. He also had two of his scout age cousins, Porter and Collin, do the presentation of the US flag. We appreciate everyone's love and support so much and would like to offer special thanks to Ben's financial and material donors:

• Brian and Tara Hennessy (Hennessy Construction)
• Steve and Laurie Fisher
• ValDean Fisher (in memory of Doug Fisher)
• Brent Fisher (Fisher Painting)
• Kirk and Nelladee Waldron
• Levi and Jenessa Waldron
• Sally Jones
• Kyle Chatterton (Incredible Concrete)

At the end of the ceremony we enjoyed delicious cinnamon rolls and muffins that were so kindly donated by Rae's Bake Shop & Cafe located on State Street in Preston.

Ben's Dedication Speech

Dee Presenting Oxford Book to Ben

Larry's Talk