Action 3 News - Omaha, Nebraska News, Weather, and Sports | "Our Soles" Book Honors Boy Scout Killed At Little Sioux
Member Center:
Omaha, NE: Gone but not forgotten. Boy Scout Ben Petrzilka died at Little Sioux Boy Scout Ranch. A boy always on a mission to spot "Our Soles" he forever touched the hearts of his family and friends.
"Our Soles" before Ben Petrzilka died in the Little Sioux tornado, he always noticed abadoned shoes laying in the middle of the road and felt there was a story behind them. An idea that inspired a book. Ben's mother, Arnelle says the book began as a healing exercise, "We thought the kids needed something to do to kinda get their feelings out so they wrote these stories at school and turned them in as a project." It turned into much more.
Ben's close friend, John Edwards, reads the entry he wrote for the book. "The shoes I was an idle in, travel the country in, saved my feet in are lonely and not used to standing alone. These shoes have never traveled alone but now they stand alone." Edwards explains, "What I was talking about was about how me and Ben, we went everywhere together. Now that he's gone I don't have anybody to go anywhere with."
Ben's mom says "Our Soles" began as a healing project after Ben died, but it became more because of his friends for the grieving mother. "They were a big part of me healing and hopefully I was a part of them healing," she says. For Arnelle being around Bens' friends kept his memory alive. "Sometimes you'd hear them say something in school and that would trigger a memory so that's hard but it's also awesome in the same way because I am seeing them growing and maturing and healing, that's good to do," she says.
Not only did all of Ben's classmates write a story for the book but even Ben's parents wrote a story about his scouting boots and their journey home. Boots that Arnelle loves. She says, "If I'm having a bad day I wear them. I just know he's had his feet in them and it's part of him. And they're a little bit big on me so it reminds me that he was growing. I just feel like he's there in them."
In his boots and in a classroom, Bens' classmates know as they prepare to take the next step to high school, Ben Petrzilka will be right beside them.
"Our Soles" was released just this weekend. The cost $20. You can get it at Flowerama at 142nd and Pacific Street or at the Boy Scouts Of America Mid-America Council Shop at 124th and Maple. Proceeds benefit several causes including Mary Our Queen School.
Reported By: Liz Dorland; ldorland@action3news.com
