By Craig Williams

Ben Tucker is a man on a mission. He has a recipe for success and is in possession of all the ingredients necessary to make it a reality. Now he’s just looking for the best ‘kitchen’ he can find to put it all together.

Growing up between Cairo, Mounds, and rural Pulaski County, Ben played ball, and like most of his friends, wheeled around on his bike, skipped rocks in the creeks, and enjoyed his childhood days crafting visions of life beyond the creek. One of the houses where Ben lived growing up, had a tombstone inexplicably placed in the back yard. No matter, this just became great source material for exciting stories about ghostly co-inhabitants and the like.

If there’s one thing Ben appears to have in abundant supply, it is the ability to craft a vision, whether for childhood amusement or for his bigger life plans. When he lost his mother the year he turned 13, he wept, moved in with Grandma, and went to work making his mother, and everyone around him, proud. He played basketball and baseball, he kept his grades up, and he made time to do the heavy lifting that would put some coin in his pockets. He detailed cars, cut grass, worked as a custodian, assembled playground equipment, laid concrete, and worked at Burger King. All this while maintaining a solid academic track record. He does these things so he can build a future, not only for himself, but for the grandmother who has given him so much and for the siblings he loves. Ben is a guy who gives back and will always take care of his own and then some.

The world is littered with self-serving hard workers. Unemployed smart, talented people are almost a cliché. And who doesn’t love their grandma. But to find smart, hardworking, and empathy bundled together in the same person? That’s a hat-trick, my friend, and Ben is the man turning it.

What ‘kitchen’ he’ll choose or precisely what ‘recipe’ he’ll pull from his repertoire are ‘TBD’ items — to be determined, but what is a certainty is that Ben is going to make us proud.