Always willing to get his hands dirty

At the beginning of the semester, I bought potted roses for my room. I’ve never been good with plants, but I wanted to be better.

After a few weeks of trying, I eventually admitted to myself that I just wasn’t cut out to be a plant person. The roses were wilting despite my efforts. Upon exclaiming this to Ben, he took them under his wing. Every day I would walk past his room and see his large collection of plants he was nursing back to health.

I remember when we moved in, Ben told me he had goals to make his room a full-on greenhouse by the end of the year. At a month in, it looked like he had already achieved that. This spoke volumes of his dedication and skill.

Ben was so careful and kind with his plants, which reflected how much he cared about others. He was always willing to get his hands dirty and take on challenges for his friends.

Adopting my roses, helping Hailey fix an infected earring, doing research to replace Josie's car remote… The list goes on.

I wish we could have done more for him.

Alexis Cherby