Ben we saw this rainbow last year on your birthday gods promise 

Rainbow 🌈 

I think you angel 😇 s up there send us messages  we all miss you  Angel and I had just been talking about you 

Kassandra and Brandon always have fun things to say about you I’m so happy we had great memories of you

I’m so sad we could not still have you 

We are thinking about your wonderful spirit love you Ben

Happy birthday, Ben! We all love & miss you so much. I've been thinking about you a lot, especially lately. To think you'll never see another birthday hurts my heart. I'm thinking about when you turned 30 & we had your gay death themed birthday party and how hilarious it was and how much fun we had. I never thought that within a few years I wouldn't be able to just talk to you on your birthday to tell you how much I love you and catch up on your life. I know you're watching out for all of us, and I find comfort in knowing that your soul is at rest. The world isn't as bright or as beautiful as it was with you here, but every time I see rainbow now, I think of you. And how beautiful you were both inside and out. I love you to pieces.

Love, Booboo

Thanks to everyone that participated in Benjaman's Celebration of Life Party.

Whether you attended in person, online or in Spirit you brought a little of Ben's sunshine into the lives of others.

Thank you Ben for the joy you brought to this world.

Thank you Ben for the work you do for the Lord now as you embrace our Heavenly family.

Your Angelic attributes are  why your probationary time on Earth was short.

If we can strive to even barely emulate Benjaman's love and compassion then the World would be a better place.

I am proud of you Ben and I will carry you in my heart, mind and soul till we embrace again.

Love forever and always.

Your Pops 

My precious beautiful son-Benjaman Zachary Burton.

From the beginning Ben has been curious and inquisitive about himself, others, and the world around him. He is an adventurer, wanderer, and explorer of ideas and places. He is fearless; unafraid to trek in solitude. He was almost three when he took his first solitary trek through our neighborhood in nothing but rubber boots and a diaper. Thankfully a neighbor several blocks down the road brought him home. As an adult, he tested his survival skills on the rugged Crow Pass Trail, again in solitude for a week; foraging, hiking, and making his 5’4” body big to scare off a bear that was stalking him.

Hearing Ben tell stories of his adventures is the best. His stories draw you in and make you feel like you were with him in that moment.

Camp Carlquist and Camp Gorsuch are special places to Ben. He went there every summer while in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. He enjoyed sharing scouting knowledge, ideals and above all fun with young scouters as he worked at the Camp Carlquist as a Den Chief and later at Camp Gorsuch as a Lifeguard. This work and the long lasting relationships he built there are so meaningful to him.

Ben is an artist and musician. He filled our home with music. He often sang to the music he played on the piano. Many enjoyable hours were spent surrounding him as he tickled those ivories as we all sang along. I love watching him play; as he feels and moves with the music. Ben shared with me once that he likes playing all different kinds of music but “it just feels different-special when I play Hymns.”

Ben loves my cooking and I love the yummy sounds he makes when he eats good food. I really missed that validation when he moved away to go to college.

Ben is forever a peacemaker; the very calm in the center of the storms of life. He is gifted with wisdom, patience, long suffering, the ability to deeply connect with others, the desire to lift others. He is keenly aware of and unafraid to approach and connect with the most suffering souls. He consistently attempts to lend healing support and encouragement.

I am still not able to grasp that Ben has moved on to the next life as his life journey here on this planet ended 8/18/2024. I am so grateful for meaningful loving texts collected through the years, photos, videos that I can hear his lovely laugh,memories of hikes and adventures that we have shared, and our recent visit with him a few weeks ago.

But I will forever be yearning and painfully aching for more time with my precious lovely boy-Ben.

I feel disconnected from this earth right now without him on it. I cannot speak of Ben in the past. He will always be in the present to me.

Peace is not without conflict. Amidst this conflict there is peace as I am rooted in my testimony that Jesus Christ lives. He is our Savior. He knows us by name and loves us so much that he gave His life for us. Ben is living on the other side surrounded by God’s love. He will continue to use and grow his talents there to encourage, heal, and lift the suffering with his unique compassion, wisdom, and humor. I look forward to hearing more of Ben’s stories and feeling his embrace when we meet again.