Benjamin Lauren, 23, of Gwinn, was fatally injured while fighting a structure fire on March 13. He was a captain at the Forsyth Township Fire Department, a volunteer department.

Don Riling, a professional firefighter with the U.S. Air Force and firefighter with the Forsyth Township Fire Department, passed away while fighting a house fire in Forsyth Township on March 19, 1988.

At its most recent meeting, the Marquette County Board of Commissioners unanimously passed a resolution to rename a portion of the highway in memory of the two men.

“It is our duty to respect and honor these fallen firefighters that gave their lives protecting our community, lest we forget; and therefore be it further resolved, that the Marquette County Board of Commissioners support, recommend and promote the renaming of State Highway M-35 in Forsyth Township, Marquette County to ‘Ben Lauren and Don Riling Memorial Highway,’ from the border of Forsyth Township and Turin Township on the southeast end, to the border of Richmond Township and Forsyth Township on the northwest end,” board documents state. “Further be it resolved that the honorable Sara Cambensy, 109th District of the Michigan House of Representatives, and the Honorable Ed McBroom, 38th District of the Michigan Senate, and the Honorable Gretchen Whitmer, Governor of the great State of Michigan, be requested to assist in renaming this portion of Highway M-35 in Forsyth Township, Marquette County to honor our fallen firefighters.”

Commissioner Bill Nordeen of Marquette County’s District 5 — which includes Forsyth Township — read the resolution and supported the renaming. He knew Lauren personally.

“It was unfortunate. Ben Lauren was a great young man… I can’t say enough about him. He’s one of those perfect young men. He was 23 years old, he had been hanging around the fire department as long as I can remember. He always wanted to be a part of the fire department. He was the captain of the fire department when this happened,” Nordeen said. “He comes from a very good family, good friends of mine and good friends of our (county) clerk Linda Talsma, and a really good friend to our whole community, so it’s a tragic thing.”

Nordeen also spoke about the Upper Peninsula firefighters included in the Michigan Firemen’s Memorial in Roscommon.

“You’ll see that there’s only six firefighters that have died in the line of duty in the Upper Peninsula. And we have I think 80 or 90 volunteer fire departments here in the U.P., so it’s very rare to lose a firefighter and out of those six that have died in the U.P., two of them came from Forsyth Township,” he said. “We think it’s appropriate to name this highway after these two young men.”

Before asking for a roll call vote, Chairman Gerald Corkin said the renaming of the highway was a good way to recognize those “that have given their life to the community as volunteers, so it certainly deserves support.”

While the Forsyth fire department and a few others from the central U.P. gathered for a procession on March 21, a ceremony couldn’t be held due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The ceremony was rescheduled for May 23 and has once again been canceled due to the pandemic, but there are plans for a larger celebration sometime in the future, Nordeen said.

Another tribute to Lauren can be seen in Lakenenland Sculpture Park along M-28 East in Chocolay Township.

After Lauren’s passing, Tom Lakenen, the sculpture artist behind the junkyard art park, made an iron sculpture depicting Lauren in uniform with his favorite saying, “10-4 good buddy” as noted in his obituary.

Lakenen knew of Lauren through a family member and as a “hometown hero” while he was a firefighter. Eventually, the two ended up on a job site chatting with one another.

“Just a super nice kid, I mean one of them guys you’re happy to run into. He’s always smiling and having a good time,” Lakenen said.

After hearing of his passing, Lakenen thought of making a sculpture and received a request from one of Lauren’s family members.

“I had seen that picture, the picture of him with his helmet and firefighting gear on, and thought, ‘boy, that’d be pretty cool if I could somehow put that image on iron,” Lakenen said.

Unsure of how to put a silhouette on iron, he sent the picture off to Jaiden Peterson — a friend of his daughter’s — for some help and then got to work in the garage.

“I’m always making sculptures for out at the park and trying to think of something that’s meaningful and has a purpose besides a dinosaur or something funny,” Lakenen said. “I’m glad it turned out halfway decent and I’m glad the family likes it, that’s the main thing. I’m glad to hear that they are going to change the name of the highway.”

Trinity Carey can be reached at tcarey@miningjournal.net