Benjamin Foede

Benjamin "Ben" Foede, 27, of New London, died Sunday, October 6 at the St. Cloud Hospital. His visitation will be 1-3:00 pm, Saturday, October 26 at Johnson Funeral Home in New London. There will be a time of sharing at 3:00 pm. Arrangements are with Harvey Anderson & Johnson Funeral Home in New London. www.hafh.org
Benjamin Troy Foede was born January 23, 1997, in International Falls, the son of Troy and Tracey (Uecker) Foede. He grew up "all over" as the family moved around, including International Falls, Cohasset, Sartell, Snowflake (AZ), and the Lewiston (ID)/Clarkston (WA) valley. Wherever he was, Ben found a way to get out and explore the world around him. One of his early accomplishments was climbing Camelback Mountain in Phoenix around his 12th birthday.
He attended high school in Asotin, WA, where he learned and excelled at his passion: drums and performance. He played in the jazz band as if he had been playing for years-a natural-and he qualified to travel with the Washington state high school band that toured Europe the summer of 2014. Ben graduated from Asotin High School in 2015 and was accepted into the Performance Percussion program at McNally Smith School of Music in St. Paul. Although he later found out his joints would not hold up to the full-time percussion world, he continued to play and develop other musical talents the rest of his life. He graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BA in Music Business in December 2017, just as McNally Smith closed the school. It was an amazing accomplishment to complete the degree in just two and a half years. From there, Ben held several different jobs related to the music industry, living in Austin, TX and the Twin Cities area, ultimately moving out to New London as he started his blade smithing business.
Most recently, Ben worked at Mill Pond Liquor in New London. He also launched BPM (Beats Per Minute) Bladeworks, making custom knives for all kinds of different uses. Ben enjoyed putting his creativity and musical talents to use whenever possible. He found a home with the Crow River Players, participating in Little Theatre productions and doing his stand-up comedy routine. Ben was continuing his connection to the great outdoors through hiking, especially the Superior Hiking Trail.
Surviving is his father, Troy; brother, Nick both of New London; paternal grandparents, Gary and Bonnie Foede of Cokato and George and Mary Uecker of Wright; and several aunts, uncles, cousins and other family and friends.
Ben was preceded in death by his mother, Tracey, and his maternal grandmother, Shirley Uecker.
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