ILLINOIS CITY, Illinois — A year ago this week, a Moline man best known as a dedicated father, spirited cook, and Boy Scouts volunteer fell ill. After weeks on a ventilator and at the age of 67, Ben Rogers was the first person in Rock Island County to die of COVID-19.
As the winter ice thaws from the trails at Camp Loud Thunder, his friends with the Boy Scouts reflect on a year without him.
"I can’t think of a better volunteer than Ben Rogers," said Jeff Doty, Scout Executive & CEO of the ILLOWA Council of the Boy Scouts of America. "He had actually contracted it while he was out buying food for a Scout Event for camp," according to a contact tracer, Doty said.
RELATED: Rock Island County mourns longtime Boy Scout volunteer Ben Rogers, first death due to COVID-19
Rogers was known to his Boy Scouts in all 13 counties of the ILLOWA Council as the 'King of the Kitchen.' He fell ill at around the time of his las big cook one year ago. A month later, he was gone.
As the first to lose a loved one to COVID-19 in Rock Island County, Rogers' family was one of the first to have to change the way we grieve.
"If you remember that day, there were flags all over in front. All the pack flags, all the troop flags, American flags," Doty said, remember Rogers' drive-by memorial at Rafferty Funeral Home in Moline last April.
"The hardest part was that all of us just wanted to hug the family. We wanted to hug each other," Doty said.
In a fitting tribute to the man who introduced generations of Boy Scouts to classic cowboy cooking, the "Ben Rogers Kitchen Project" was born. A special patch features Rogers in his cowboy hat posed in front of his beloved chuck wagon, with the words, "Happy Trails to You," embroidered across the top.
The patch can be bought on the Boy Scouts of America ILLOWA Council website, with proceeds going toward the renovation of the Loud Thunder Camp kitchen.