Firefighter remembered as 'everyone's best friend'

A devoted family man who loved life and always had a smile on his face. An accomplished ski and mountaineering athlete. And everyone’s best friend.

Friends, family, as well as firefighters and paramedics, gathered Thursday in Kalispell to remember Ben Parsons, a 36-year-old Whitefish firefighter and paramedic who was killed Jan. 5 when he was caught in an avalanche while backcountry skiing on Stanton Mountain in Glacier National Park. A final report on the slide found that Parsons accidentally triggered the avalanche. He was swept 1,000 feet down the mountainside.

About 1,200 people attended the more than two-hour service at Flathead County Fairgrounds where Parsons was remembered for his love of his family, friends and service to community. He was also remembered for his tenacious attitude to always seek the next great athletic adventure — whether it be skinning up Big Mountain or riding in a 24-hour mountain bike race.

“While he was my best friend — I could see he loved all of you,” said Josie Parsons, Ben’s sister. “Now you’re all my best friends.”

“He always took people as they were just wishing they were a little bit faster,” she said drawing laughter from those gathered.

Parsons is survived by his wife Jennifer Parsons and young son Rowen Parsons, along with his parents Larry and Valerie Parsons and sister Josie Parsons.

Jennifer Parsons recalled her life with her husband as they moved from friends, dating, marriage and into parenthood. She said Ben broke trail in life looking for the next challenge in the same way he did on the mountain.

“He was always fully confident that what was ahead was better than before,” she said.

More than 300 skiers climbed the face Big Mountain Jan. 8 to honor Parsons during a “group skin” at Whitefish Mountain Resort. Just days after his death, his friends and family held a moment of silence at 4:30 p.m. at the summit.

Thursday afternoon, family and firefighters and paramedics and law enforcement officers gathered at the Majestic Valley arena for a procession through Kalispell. In the early afternoon they traveled along U.S. Highway 93 with a rescue helicopter flying overhead.

Inside a building at the fairgrounds, firefighters from across the state stood around the edge of the room. His fellow Whitefish firefighters gathered at the front giving their own a last good-bye. Pictures scattered around the building showed Parsons holding skies or in his cycling helmet. His firefighter turnout gear — jacket and helmet — were set out before those who had gathered to remember him.

“Have you ever met anyone who liked going up so much,” asked his father Larry Parsons.

“When Ben spoke we listened and every sound exuded love and joy,” he said. “I’m sad, but I’m not sorry because I had 36 years with him.”

Parsons joined the Whitefish Fire Department in 2009. He graduated from Flathead High School in 1998 before heading to Montana State University, where he double-majored in geology and education.

After graduating from college, he worked on a trail crew in Glacier National Park and at Rocky Mountain Outfitters before beginning work teaching at Fair-Mont-Egan School in Kalispell.

Parson left teaching to become a paramedic. He recently served as a coach and ambassador for Ridge Mountain Academy in Whitefish.

Parsons was a top ski-mountaineering competitor in the country. He competed in the U.S. Ski Mountaineering Championships and won the annual Whitefish Whiteout race on Big Mountain multiple times.

During the service, a family friend read from a journal shared by Ben and Jennifer Parsons. His wife asked him what he wanted to be remembered for. Ben replied saying he had no plans of leaving the world anytime soon, but he knew he didn’t want to be recalled for grandeur — not for winning an Olympic medal, not for creating a foundation to help people and not for carrying someone from a burning building.

“I want to be remembered for being me — Ben Parsons,” he wrote.