Longtime Gun Lake area resident Benjamin (Ben) Darnell died Tuesday, Feb. 18. He was 95.
He was born Dec. 22, 1930, to Benjamin E. and Margaret (Saupp) Darnell in Kalamazoo. He was the oldest of their three children. He grew up in the South Westnedge area and enjoyed being outside and rode his bike everywhere with his friends. They would go fishing, hunting and exploring. His parents rented a cottage for many summers at Bankson Lake where he and his dad loved to go fishing together.
His maternal grandparents lived on a farm in Bangor where they spent a lot of time and Ben had many stories about going there. At 14 he started working at Brookside Dairy on S. Westnedge at first running errands for the owner Bill Moore and soon after started to help make the best ice cream and cottage cheese, etc. He then went on to delivering as well. He traveled all over the west side of lower Michigan to the stores that sold their brand.
He continued working for Moore after graduating from Kalamazoo Central High School.
Ben was working at the dairy when he met his wife, Phyllis Dieterman. She always said she knew the days when they made cottage cheese because he didn’t “smell” to good. He went into the Army in August 1951 and after basic training returned to Kalamazoo to marry Phyllis on Nov. 29, 1951. They both then moved to Kansas, where he was stationed until he was sent to Germany.
Phyllis moved back to Kalamazoo to live with her parents and give birth to their first child in November 1952. He was discharged from the Army in July 1953 and joined his wife and baby. They built a house in July 1954 on the west side after welcoming their second child. Four years later their third child was born.
Ben then started as an apprentice in a Commercial HVAC business, which he later bought and was self-employed. While he did enjoy that for nine years, he decided in 1975 to accept a position at Kalamazoo College as superintendent of operations & maintenance. He was promoted to director of the physical plant, where he stayed for 16 years. He retired in 1991.
While still working, Ben and Phyllis decided to sell their home in Kalamazoo in 1982 and take over the cottage that her parents had purchased in 1941 at Gun Lake. There was extensive remodeling which they did mostly themselves. They completed the work and called that home ever since.
With both of their love of fishing and Ben working in his shop and vegetable garden it was the perfect place for them. While they took many vacations to Florida they finally decided after both had retired to become “snow birds” and purchased a second home in Tarpon Springs, Fla.
Ben is survived by his three children, Sherilyn Newcomer, Kathleen Darnell and David (Treva) Darnell as well as his three grandchildren Lisa and Ashley Darnell and Brittany Newcomer. Also surviving are his sisters, Dorothy (Ken) Steffey-Kinsy and Linda (Fred) Bryant, as well as many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents and his wife Phyllis in July 2025.
Per his wishes he has been cremated. A family memorial for both Ben and Phyllis will be held at a later date.
