Senator Benjamin “Racing” Marchand – Obituary

Ben making a MotoGP Bike Look Good

My Favorite Marchand

Generous Gentleman, Genetically-Happy Prankster, world class Writer, world traveler, Career Electrician and  lifelong bachelor Ben Marchand passed away bravely fighting Lung cancer this week – leaving behind a plethora of wonderfully kind-hearted women, hearty friends and a widespread wake of thoughtful kindnesses.

Courteous – European Manners
Rarely known to emit epithets, Ben commanded an uncommon display of European manners, courtesy and thoughtfulness. His graciousness was as comfortably home among San Francisco aristocrats, as he was in Paris and Roma. As example – he never forgot to send a Birthday Card with a crisp new Two-Dollar bill ! A better example was his caring kindness to his elderly neighbor Maureen. Ben spent every Thanksgiving with her for the last decade of her life.

On the other hand when some Jackass tried to bully him or his friends – Ben was the guy you wanted in your corner. One evening while riding bicycles on a Pebble Beach golf course cart-trail a neighbor yelled at us. Ben stopped to eloquently eviscerate the fellow, calmly. He finished with “Don’t let this happen again – because Next time — I’ll tell you to Fuck Off.”

For the next few minutes until we got out of earshot, it was hard for me to ride without falling off  – as I was trying so hard to stifle a belly laugh. When we stopped, we tumbled off our bikes, literally rolling on the ground with laughter.

Ben Award from Decent Docent Brotherhood

Generous
Ben served as a Decent Docent at Anò Nuevo State Park monthly for 40 years, annually buying an entire set of passes to his guided tour so he could host his available friends. For several years Ben reserved an entire parking lot at Yosemite’s Tuolumne Meadows inviting his adventurously interesting friends to join in for a weekend of shared amusements. And it  should be no surprise how he was (allegedly) a humble, but enthusiastic orgasm donor when situations arose.

Education, Formal
Ben always radiated charm. We met at Pacific Grove Junior High School and grew into goofy accomplices. (My father as a West Point student knew Ben’s grandfather who was a revered leader at the esteemed academy). Ben later attended & excelled in almost everything at York (a private High School in Monterey) as a live-in student in the on-site Dormitories and later in the infamous “Pink House” in Pacific Grove. He didn’t mind at all that his York Dormitory was only walking distance to the world renowned Laguna Seca race track, where we sometimes snuck on to the track for some “unofficial” racing. Later he attended University of San Francisco – a Jesuit School – where he made more lifelong friends; also in the goofy realm.

Writer
His friends were honored recipients of his extraordinary writing skills. I compared it to Hunter S. Thompson’s Gonzo style. Sadly, Ben could never be persuaded to share his writing genius with the wider world.

Racing
Ben was known for a racing car passion possibly inspired or resulting from an early teen German sojourn, where he returned with some Faller HO racing Slot Cars. They were intended to compete with us unsophisticated Americans racing the lowly stock Aurora brand. (WTF? I just learned our cars were never “HO” size (1/87 scale), they were actually “O” (1/76) and “S” (1/64) sizes!)

Ben assisting Electric Motorcycle Babes with their Posture

He favored Formula One/Grand Prix, and Can-Am (“No rules”) racing (as opposed to the “roundy-round” “left turn only” Indy cars & NASCAR). He was quietly pleased that his initials “BRM” invoked  the esteemed British Racing team.  As long as it was world class road racing (or flying) he enjoyed it – Moto GP, Reno Air Races, etc. When his mother died, he inherited the family place in Upper Healdsburg (Lower Geyserville), near Sonoma International racetrack – “Sears Point.” Making it easy for him to enjoy those races.

Racing Flip – (Highly skilled Fun with a touch of Rude – Ben’s Favorite Humor. Yes he sent this)

On his last visit to Sicilia, he met one of the principals of the Targa Florio race – the last of the world’s longest true public-road Road-Races. They spent hours sharing racing stories. He was amazed how the gentleman was just as thrilled to meet him – and invited him back. Ben recently spent a load of cash to attend an Formula One grand Prix race in Texas. Said it was the worst track ever & complete waste of time. On the other hand, he recently met Jacky Ickx, one of history’s great racing drivers from the 1970’s era when we all were racing enthusiasts.

A few years ago Ben splurged on a fun Porsche Cayman. But as he humbly explained “merely the Rubber (floor) mats version.”

Ben’s Annual Sponsored Anò Nuevo Tour for Fabulous Friends

Adventures
While at York, four of us rode 10-speed bicycles from Pacific Grove headed to Yosemite, camping along the way. With Ben riding his Pugeot, We started in the “wrong” direction (taking the scenic route) by zooming South along Big Sur’s magnificent, mountainous coast and up over (unpaved at that time) Nacimiento grade. The start of a grand adventure. Not all his adventures ended in fun. He once crashed his Norton motorcycle at over 100mph on the road behind York School – returning from Laguna Seca’s track. It took him a long time to recover from those wounds.

Ben – Decent Docent Mode

Athlete
Always an athlete, Ben was a team leading cross-country runner at York school which was known for its tortuously steep course. He later went to the Olympic tryouts for the Bobsled team as a Sprinter/Pusher, and only missed making the team by hundredths of a second.

Traveler
An easy world traveler, Ben loved France & Italy – and oh so many other cultures and places. Always ready to help friends find the best places to visit. His recent sojourns were to Japan, Hawaii & Toronto with girlfriend Christine Tran and her family.

Professional Electrician
Ben recently retired from a dedicated career member of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. He recently served as IBEW Dispatcher – and delivered it with no-nonsense. He made strong, fast friends and attended IBEW events across the country as recently as a year ago.

Music – and Cultcha
He favored films by Kurosawa and Preston Sturges, relished Shakespeare at Santa Cruz, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in Golden Gate Park, New Yorker magazine, and for many decades religiously attended every Grateful Dead concert he could. (Some photographs here might give you a hint of the wide range of friends Ben cultivated and kept smiling.)

Orange Wrecking Ball

Politics
While I rarely heard Ben discuss candidate politics, he did raise his hand at least once to warn friends about a major Con-man. Obviously he did not take this photograph(s), but he did mention printing some 2,000 of these “il Douchè” postcards to give away.

He also asked my thoughts on moving to Canada if something horrible happened. I’m imagining in his last moments he was at least momentarily grateful to avoid enduring the Orange Wrecking Ball.

Ben Getting the Drop on the Cop (with a squirt gun)

Prankster
Uhhmm, we might have to wait until a few more years (& participants) have passed to publish some of these. Like how he came to chose an Electrician career.

Suppose I can mention that he took Patty Hearst from neighboring Santa Catalina (All girls school) to the Junior Prom. Apparently she wasn’t converted into a fan. Her first major bad decision.

Here’s one I can show, taken at a Laguna Seca MotoGP race. Ben got away with it – probably because the cop had no idea . . .

More to come . . .

Your comments, stories and photographs are most welcome !

And You are invited, Welcomed and Encouraged to pass this story on to Ben’s widespread set of friends.

*** Celebration of Ben’s Fabulous Life will occur at Pacific Grove’s Berwick Park on Saturday March 8 at 9:30am. Potluck Picnic to follow. Bring fun stories of Ben to share.

Pacific Grove’s Berwick Park is exactly half a mile West of the Aquarium, just past Stanford’s Hopkins Marine Station. (In High School, Ben lived in York School’s “Pink Palace” just a block uphill from here.)

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