BEN HOWE

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IN LOVING MEMORY OF BEN HOWE

Class of 1954 12/31/1935 - 7/23/2008

Thurman, IA

BEN WAS A FAMILY MAN

HE LED BY EXAMPLE AND HE ALWAYS PUT HIS FAMILY FIRST

Ben's Memorial Service was Wed, July 30, 2:008 at 4:00 pm

at the United Methodist Church - Sidney, IA

Memorials for Ben

Paradise Methodist Church

Thurman Fire & Rescue

Masonic Lodge Scholarship Fund

Ben's Celebration of Life was at Ben and Carolyn's Home North of Thurman.

Ben will certainly be missed by his "Paradise Alumni Family".

He was an attribute to the Class of 1954.

From an Iowa Newspaper Road . . .

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Construction that forced a group of teenagers to use an unfamiliar detour may have played a part in a fatal two-vehicle accident near Sidney Wednesday, according to two of the teenagers' mother.

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The group of five teenagers, including Casey Cruickshank (14), Kara Cruickshank (17), Maggie Johnson (15), Katie Johnson (17) and Holly Blazek(16) was driving back from a training program for student athletes in Shenandoah. Casey is a football player, set to enter his freshman season, and the other teens, all girls, are volleyball players.

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According to the accident report provided by the Iowa State Patrol, Blazek was driving a 2006 Saab about two miles north of Sidney on Fremont County Road J26 when it entered the intersection with U.S. 275, where it collided with Ben Howe's 2005 Honda motorcycle.

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Howe, 72, was pronounced dead at the scene. According to the police report he was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident. Forty-seven of 50 states have some type of motorcycle helmet legislation. Only Iowa, Illinois and Colorado have no motorcycle helmet law.

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The students were traveling on J26 because Highway 2 east of Sidney is closed due to bridge deck work, beginning last week on an overflow bridge, 1.9 miles east of town. Jeff Owen, field services coordinator with the Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT), said they were unable to set up the detour to go on J46 like they would have prefered because they couldn't get approval from Fremont County officials. Instead the detour was set up to US Highway 34. However, the group of teenagers didn't use either detour, instead because of the road construction, they took a less familiar route back to Sidney. "On the way home they took the detour through Anderson, Iowa, and it is a road they do not know very well," Lynda Cruickshank said. The intersection is at the top of a hill and not readily visible from the east, she said.Three of the students in the car were flown to Creighton University Medical Center, said Lynda Cruickshank, mother of Casey and Kara. Cruickshank said her 14-year-old son, Casey, Maggie Johnson and the car's driver, Holly Blazek, were flown to Creighton. Casey is the son of Sidney Community Schools Superintendent Gregg Cruickshank. Lynda Cruickshank would not comment on the conditions or identities of the other teens, however CMC spokes person Lisa Stites said Maggie Johnson was among them, and she was in stable condition Wednesday. Kara Cruickshank had stitches and a mild concussion, she and Katie Johnson were treated for minor injuries and released from Grape Community Hospital. Maggie and Katie Johnson are the daughters of Brian and Kelly Johnson of Percival. Casey, who suffered a fracture at the base of his skull, was in critical condition Wednesday evening, his mother said, but the injury was not life-threatening. In an email Lynda said that Casey is sedated until after brain surgery, but she trust he will make a full recovery.

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Cruickshank said Howe was a well-known and well-liked farmer.

He had been farming in the Thurman area since the early 1970s, said Howe's oldest son, Ben Howe II, 31. Before moving to Iowa he had been a teacher for several years, including two years at the U.S. Army post in Hanau, Germany. He loved to ride horses and motorcycles, and he loved old cars. He owned a1913 Ford Model T and a 1957 Chevrolet. He also loved to baby-sit his grandchildren, a6-week-old grandson and a 2-year-old granddaughter.

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"He was a family man," Ben Howe II said. "He led by example, and he always put family first."

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