Benjamin Joseph Cook

Benjamin Joseph Cook peacefully left his earthly home for his eternal one at 4:15 a.m. on April 22, 2026. His pilgrimage here was 33 years, 2 months, and 1 week.

Born on February 15, 1993, in Dayton, Ohio, Benjamin was joyfully received by his parents, Joseph Alan Cook and Lora Sue (Landes) Cook along with his older sister, Amanda. He was their first-born son and the second of 7 children. His siblings are Amanda, Ethan, Weston, Austin, Nathan, and Alena.

Benjamin spent the first 13 years of his childhood in Ohio. He enjoyed many hours with his parents and siblings since he was homeschooled, and many fond memories were made. He especially enjoyed taking things apart to see how they were made, as well as building things that would work. His room was often a collection of parts and pieces. At the age of 12 he built a wooden snowplow that attached to his old riding mower so that he could clear snow in the driveway. Also, at the age of 12, Benjamin realized his need of a Lord and Savior. He repented of his sins, and after placing his faith in the power of the cleansing blood of Jesus he was baptized. He took the Lord’s calling out of childhood into spiritual manhood seriously, and though he still needed God’s forgiveness from day to day he blossomed in his walk with the Lord and love for Him.

When almost 14, Benjamin moved with his family to Myerstown, Pennsylvania. From the ages of 15 – 20 he worked at cleaning chicken barns, mowing lawns, working at an office supply store, helping his dad to sell indoor and outdoor furniture and storage sheds, taxiing Amish, helping with sound systems in church related meetings, and beginning his own I.T. business to help those without internet with their computers. He also enjoyed a mission trip to Nicaragua when 17 to help build a house for a Christian family, and to Ghana, Africa when 20 to help reroof a mission house.

In early 2014, at the age of 21, Benjamin moved west to North Idaho with his family. He soon spread his wings with the blessing of his parents and moved to Ellensburg, Washington for a job doing pest control, tree and lawn care. He thoroughly enjoyed all the time with the young folks there, hiking, off-roading, singing, playing volleyball and studying the Bible together.

Benjamin went to young folks camp in July of 2015, in the mountains of California and met Heidi Jenkins. He was quite intrigued with her and how she loved deep theological discussions, and how she enjoyed entering the conversations he had with her brother Caleb. They had their first date on Thanksgiving in 2016, soon after Heidi moved to Idaho. Many more special times were spent together, and they marveled how God wove their lives together making it very clear that God wanted them to marry. Ben always said he wanted God to pick who he married so he wouldn’t make a mistake. Their dating was marked by God’s miraculous work in their lives. They were married December 15, 2017, in Modesto, California where Heidi grew up.

The two of them started their new life together in Ellensburg, Washington, where Benjamin had already been living. After leaving Arbor Care, he worked for Wise Automotive a few months before his dream job working as an estimator for Central Paving. Then he moved to the field as a traffic control supervisor. He also spent some time managing a 500 unit self-storage facility and was involved in many aspects of building it before the units were ready to be rented out.

God blessed Ben and Heidi with their first-born daughter about a year after they were married. Elsie Joy was born February 17, 2019. Thirteen and ½ months later they were blessed with a second daughter, Katie Grace, on March 27, 2020. These 2 little sunbeams brought much joy and energy to their home.

Though very healthy all his young life, Ben soon began to experience some puzzling health issues during the summer of 2022. Testing was done; and on January 16, 2023 he received the diagnosis of Large B-cell Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Cancer. Ben almost didn’t even flinch when he heard the news and told Heidi that they were going to trust the Lord, no matter what. His deepest desire was that God would be glorified either by his life or by his death.

For 2 years they had prayed about relocating to North Idaho and waited on God’s timing to move. Ben had wanted to move back closer to his parents to help his dad who was also struggling with serious health issues. God opened the door quickly for them when they learned their rental house was to be burned down because the house was full of mold. It was in the middle of this moving process that Ben received his cancer diagnosis.

After Ben and Heidi moved with their girls to North Idaho, Ben and his dad worked at carpentry jobs together periodically as they were physically able. They joined Ethan, who had already been doing carpentry jobs in the area for several years. They had worked together building houses in Ohio when Ben was a boy, so it was special to get to work together again. During this time Ben and Heidi’s faith was stretched when he didn’t always feel well enough to work, and they needed to trust God to provide for them.

Ben and Heidi battled the cancer with all they had, even traveling to Germany 4 times for treatment. Thousands of prayers went up for them, for which they were deeply thankful! Ben had a strong will to live, desiring to be a husband to his dear wife and a daddy to his precious little girls. But God had a higher calling for him and called him to Heaven after a little over 3 years. Over the course of his cancer, Ben was anointed 3 times, which brought much comfort.

Ben’s life calling was to care for hurting people. Especially those who were outsiders, on the fringes, unpopular, or had a hurtful experience in church and were misunderstood or pushed away. Ben had several of his own personal experiences with this, and it deeply affected his life. He chose to follow Jesus no matter what it cost him. He would forgive and say, “Why would it not be me who gets the short end of the stick?” As a couple it seemed God was systematically taking them through the suffering of various trials in order to comfort others in painful situations with the comfort God was comforting them with. He allowed God to use the experiences to deepen his walk with the Lord, and as a springboard to care for people even better. Ben would say, “Love always wins!” He was passionate about knowing the truth of God’s Word and the truth about current events in the world so as not to be deceived in these last days. He also desired that others would not be deceived but be spiritually watchful.

Ben loved people and enjoyed helping them in many practical ways. If he didn’t know how to do a job, he would figure out or ask for advice. He sometimes neglected his own needs so that he could help someone. He took a special interest in children, taking time for them also.

Other interests Ben had included singing hymns in 4-part harmony with others, exploring forest service roads, hiking, and camping. He was a first responder at heart but didn’t pursue it much due to the time it would take away from his wife and daughters. His family was more important to him than any job or hobby. He became a ham radio operator, built computers for several people, almost finished a solar generator to power his family’s home, and always wanted to manufacture some much-needed product in the US.

Ben lived life to the fullest and did everything at 200% - including fighting cancer. God’s grace overshadowed Ben and Heidi’s journey through his illness with many blessings. After a while into the cancer journey, they began to see the good God brought from having cancer. There were lots of time together as a family, healing of relationships, miraculous financial provision, and a shift of life purpose as they wondered if God sent them to Germany and many hospitals to share the gospel with people who needed Him. Many new relationships were made, and old ones were strengthened. Some Bible references which became very dear to them were Psalm 118:17, “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord,”; Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths.”; and Psalm 127 and 128 with a focus on the verse saying, “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it…” They found they had to surrender their hopes and dreams to the Master Builder Who builds for eternity and allow God to write the story of their life.

Proceeding him in death were his grandpa, Marvin Cook; an uncle, Rodney Landes; and grandparents Ralph and Ruby Jenkins and Esther Huffman.

He is survived by his wife, Heidi, and daughters Elsie and Katie; parents, Joseph and Lora Cook; siblings, Amanda Cook, Ethan and Virginia Cook, Weston Cook, Austin and Cassie Cook, Nathan Cook, and Alena Cook; in-laws, Randy and Sarah Jenkins, brother and sisters-in-law; Kevin and Rosanna Root, Levi and Abby Jenkins, Caleb Jenkins, Jesse and Estee Jenkins, Reuben Jenkins, and Esther Jenkins; 12 nieces and nephews; grandparents; Eileen Cook, Russell and Arlene Landes, and Alfred Huffman.

Ben was a member of the Old German Baptist Brethren Church, New Conference, Mountain View district, and will be buried in the Pack River Cemetery.

Ben will be greatly missed by his family and friends, but we rejoice that he is safely Home with his Lord and that God answered every prayer for complete healing of his cancer! May we also be faithful followers of Jesus and join him some day in Heaven where no pain or sickness will ever be.