Thanks, Jon, for those photos - it has been good to see Ben again as we feel the loss. That one photo with snow was taken at our place up in the NM high country when Ben and Jon were doing their best to assure a good elk hunt for an old pal of Ben who had limited mobility at the time - typical gesture for those guys.
For those who have inquired about what happened to cause Ben's death, I know only some basics. When Ben and Crystal visited with us for an afternoon earlier this Summer, Ben mentioned that sleep apnea was bothering him quite a bit and he was seeking a medical procedure to deal with that. Since then my wife and I have been addressing health concerns of two in our family and also traveling for that purpose, and I had not talked with Ben since the Campfire gathering up on the Rim - but understand that those sleep apnea problems continued and led to increasing congestion in his lungs.
This developed into pneumonia and on Thursday of this week Ben was admitted to hospital in Las Cruces for treatment. At first he showed some improvement but, very early on Friday, began losing ground. Ben had declined any extraordinary life-saving treatment and was not able to beat the pneumonia on his own. His lovely daughter Donelle has shared with me that no formal service is planned. I hope this helps.
