As Ben's father, I want to express my thanks to Ben's many friends who have shown acts of kindness to us and shared their loving memories of Ben. You have helped us immeasurably through this time of grief. The stories we heard about Ben were wonderful and made us realize how well he lived his life and created a community of friends. Many of Ben's friends didn't know each other because they were in different circles (the work circle, the yoga circle, the biking circle, the beer making circle, the IT circle, etc.). They came together last week and the common remark was, "I didn't know Ben did that." He was truly amazing and accomplished so much. Most importantly, he built a community of caring friends and was a devoted son and family member. It is with these thoughts that I now realize that the worse tragedy would have been to not have Ben grace our lives for the 30 years he lived.
Take care of yourselves and thanks for keeping Ben in your thoughts.
-- Tony Shelton and the rest of Ben's family