My friend Ben is a fellow I've never met face-to-face, but I will always count him among my closest and best friends ever. Ken, I'll be forever grateful to you for introducing me to Ben, you both have had a profound influence upon my aesthetic appreciation as well as my own puny scrimshanding efforts.
As a direct result of his unselfish generosity Ben and I exchanged books, parts & tools many times and I'd like to think that he enjoyed the work I was able to do for him. I know for a fact that Ben has helped many, many shooters with his informed advice as well as any needed parts & contacts. The Golden Rule has been Ben's watchword and we've talked many times about life's big circle and paying favors forward. Ben doesn't suffer fools gladly and has sometimes irritated folks with his shorthand version of typing his messages but in my book he's tops, and always will be. I once said that Ben was a man to ride the river with, and I'll always regret that we never got that chance.
Like Will Rogers once said, 'when I die I want to go wherever dogs go', and I'd like to think that I'll meet Ben there.
Regards, Joe
