Benjamin Grebenc

Vessey Funeral Service - Fort Collins

Altogether<br/>4307 Vineland Road, Suite H-17-19, Orlando, FL 32811<br/>For more information, visit our website at <a href='www.altogetherfuneral.com'>www.altogetherfuneral.com</a><br/>Copyright © 2025 FPG Intermediate Holdco, LLC

Ben

Benjamin Daniel Grebenc, born March 1, 1975, passed into eternal rest on May 6th, 2023, in the peace and comfort of home.  Ben was the son of Romie Tobin and Dan Grebenc.  Ben is survived by his brother, Brady Grebenc, niece Amelia and nephew Rory; his sister, Meg Welsh (Grebenc), her husband, Ben, nephew Ben, and niece Annie Rose; his father, Dan Grebenc, Dan’s wife, Bridget, and his little sister, Molly Grebenc, and his mother, Romie Tobin.  Ben loved nothing more than spending time with his family that includes 7 Aunts, 6 Uncles and 23 first cousins.  Ben was a third-generation native of Colorado and lived his entire life in Fort Collins. 

Ben attended Elementary school at Riffenburgh and Tavelli.  He attended his neighborhood junior high school, Boltz.  While at Boltz, Ben’s educational experiences were enhanced by his inclusion facilitator, Renee Ostergren.  The years at Boltz were Ben’s favorite school years.  There, he was a manager for the JV basketball team and attended dances and other sporting events.  As he lived just a block away from the school, Ben frequently took his yellow lab, Fanny, to the football field to watch the games and cheer on the team and chat with friends along the sidelines.  Ben graduated from Rocky Mountain High School and was proud to be part of the Lobo Nation.

Ben was a trailblazer and teacher who challenged his family, friends, teachers, and administrators to do their best to ensure that he was included and meaningfully immersed in the culture of each of the schools he attended.  Ben’s gift was to provide others with the opportunity to rise to their highest level of humanity.  From the teachers who learned to provide accommodations and adaptations for things like a block print project in art that required that he use some very sharp tools, to the basketball court where his teammates (and the opposing team members) demonstrated extraordinary sportsmanship by providing Ben the chance to play in a real game and score.

Ben participated in track and field events with the Special Olympics and later enjoyed the Fort Collins Adaptive Recreation Opportunities (ARO) Unified sports, with basketball and softball being his favorites.  He was a loyal fan of Colorado sports teams, most notably the Denver Broncos and the Avalanche hockey team.  His closet was full of myriad team jerseys from a variety of professional teams, including the Broncos, the Minnesota Vikings, and the Dallas Cowboys.  Ben also followed college teams, especially the Air Force Academy, Colorado State University, the University of Wyoming, and the University of Notre Dame.  Sundays would find him on the sofa watching PGA Golf or Professional Bull Riding (PBR).

At heart, Ben was a Cowboy with dreams of living on a ranch.  He loved all things western, such as country music, western clothes, cowboy boots, cowboy hats, shiny belt buckles, Wrangler jeans, rodeos, roping, and branding weekends at the ranch of his Aunt and Uncle, Peggy and Jim Hearne, near Garrett, Wyoming.  Ben’s favorite job was as a ranch hand at Greenshire Stables, and he loved working at Rabbit Shadow Farms Nursery.  He was also a volunteer at the Laughing Buck Educational Farm.

…and he danced.  Ben never missed a chance to dance his heart out.  He participated in monthly ARO dances.  He danced at several of his relatives’ and friends’ weddings and was often first onto the dance floor and the last to leave.  He was especially honored to have a special dance with his sister, Meg, at her wedding.  The soundtrack of Ben’s life was filled with George Strait and Kenny Rogers’ greatest hits, with background “melodies” of cows lowing to their bawling calves at branding.

Family was, without a doubt, most important to Ben.  He rarely missed a day to use his iPad to Facetime his Dad and his siblings, Brady and Meg.  When he met someone new, he would always inquire about their family and thereafter he would always ask, “how’s your daughter?” or “how’re your dogs?”  Ben counted dogs as an important part of a family.  He enjoyed being the “master” of three great dogs: JB, Fanny, and Nani, and three dogs from his Denver family, Fitz, Chubbie and Charlie.  Most every day when we walked through the neighborhood park, he would meet someone with dogs and take the time to scratch the dogs’ ears and give them belly rubs.  Then he would frequently say, “I’m still missing our dogs!”

Ben came to understand the “span of time” not by dates but by events.  Starting with his birthday in March, then Easter, and Mother’s Day in Spring.  June was branding and Father’s Day.  July – The Daddy of ‘Em All – Cheyenne Frontier Days.  Over the years, Ben met many rodeo cowboys, rodeo clowns, stockmen and announcers who became true friends.  Fall brought Halloween and Thanksgiving (turkey with ketchup was his favorite).  Christmas was a special time, but it also signaled that his annual trip with his Dad’s family to the National Western Stock show and Rodeo were right around the corner.

During Ben’s recovery from chemotherapy, we started to talk about where he would live next.  About two years ago, we became members of L’Arche Fort Collins and began the process of building a new circle of friends for both Ben and his family.  The L’Arche community is focused on building relationships and community while at the same time making plans to build two homes in the Heartside Hill intentional community (located at Trilby and Lemay) where we hoped Ben would one day live surrounded by supportive friendships, enjoy an active lifestyle, utilize his abilities to contribute, and stay connected with his family. 

As Ben’s family, we want to thank the many family members, friends and professionals throughout Ben’s life who contributed to Ben living his best life.  It did “take a Village!”  Poudre School District teachers, paraprofessionals, administrators, therapists and coaches, Foothills Gateway and the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation and Support Inc. all provided invaluable guidance and resources.  In all of these organizations and agencies, it was not just the services that mattered; it was the personal connections that made the services so extraordinary.  Throughout his life, Ben experienced excellent health care beginning with the Fort Collins Youth Clinic.  As an adult, we appreciate the dedicated physicians, nurses, physician assistants, primary care providers, and healthcare services from Associates in family Medicine and UC Health (especially Oncology and Pulmonary medicine).  This past week, we give our deepest thanks to the Critical Care team members at Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs, Poudre Valley Hospital Intensive care, and Accent Hospice, who with great care and skill gently ushered Ben and our family through his final days.

Editorial Footnote from Brady and Meg:  If you knew Ben, you knew that his mother, Romie, was his fiercest advocate and gentlest support.  You don’t see her mentioned above because, as is so often the case, she is in the background:  quietly ensuring that her baby is safe, insisting that the world make room for him, holding him in joy and in sadness, cultivating his bold confidence, nurturing his God-given Cowboy character, attending to his every need through the relentless struggle of cancer treatment, comforting him as only a mother can in his transition to the Lord, and now writing this obituary.  If you were lucky enough to know the Joy that Ben brought to life, you also know that he had his mom to thank for that, as we all do.  His last wish was that we all commit to take care of her, just the way she took care of him.  Ben advanced from this Earthly life with his mom and dad, sister and brother and the Holy Spirit by his side.  What a truly lucky guy.  And how blessed are we to have learned from him.

In lieu of flowers please donate to L'arche Fort Collins at https://www.larchefortcollins.org/donate/

In honor of Ben Grebenc  

Son, Brother, Friend, Cowboy 

 

A Catholic Mass and Celebration of Life will be held in honor of Benjamin Daniel Grebenc. All  are welcome to join Ben’s family and friends to share your memories and hugs, and to honor the  life and legacy of our beloved Cowboy. A livestream will also be available for Ben’s friends and  family near and far. Details are as follows:

Thursday, May 18, 2023 

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton 

5450 South Lemay Avenue 

Fort Collins, Colorado 80525 

10:30 MST Mass followed by Luncheon in Seton Hall 

Western attire is encouraged

. 

In lieu of flowers, to honor Ben, the family welcomes donations to L’Arche Fort Collins, a  community of friendship and belonging for people with and without intellectual disabilities. www.larchefortcollins.org/donate/

Livestream Instructions

From a computer or mobile device 
	
From Facebook


Visit www.seas-parish.org

Scroll down and look for the “What’s  Happening” section (on the left side of the  screen from a desktop computer; or about  halfway down the page on a mobile device)

At 10:30am MST on Thursday, May 18,  2023, the Parish will post a link to view the  Mass via Livestream under the “What’s  Happening” section of the Parish website.
	
Search for “St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Parish  in Fort Collins, CO”

In the “All” category of the search results, find  “St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Parish in Fort  Collins, CO”.

No need to click Follow, just tap on the name,  “St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Parish in Fort  Collins, CO” and scroll down just past the  Details section to view Posts.

At 10:30am MST on Thursday, May 18, 2023,  the Parish will post a link to view the Mass via  Livestream.


The service will also be recorded, and the link will be available to visit for some time after the  service via the SEAS website or Facebook

When words can't fully express what we want to say, sometimes a small gift can. Visit our Memorial Store for personalized gifts, keepsake jewelry and to plant a memorial tree.

We use cookies to improve your browsing experience and analyze site traffic.
<privacyLink>Privacy Policy</privacyLink>.

<firstParagraph>We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze how you use this website, store your preferences, and provide the content and advertisements that are relevant to you. These cookies will only be stored in your browser with your prior consent.</firstParagraph><secondParagraph>You can choose to enable or disable some or all of these cookies but disabling some of them may affect your browsing experience.</secondParagraph>

<firstParagraph>We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.</firstParagraph><secondParagraph>The cookies that are categorized as 'Necessary' are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site.</secondParagraph>

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

Analytics

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

Functional

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

Necessary

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

Performance

Customize Cookie Preferences

Verification Successful!

New Message

The following files could not be uploaded

Ways you can honor {memorialName}'s memory:

Donation Link

Upcoming Event

Featured Mementos

Welcome Message

Select an item to highlight

Add a highlighted item

Customize which items you’d like to highlight on the memorial

Create Account

Become a Keeper

As a free {brandName} user, you will only be able to make 5 photos and videos public.

As a free {brandName} user, only the first five (5) Mementos are visible to page visitors. You can change which Mementos are public by dragging and dropping a photo or video to one of the first five positions. Upgrading to {brandName} Plus will make all 10 Mementos selected visible to the public.

All Mementos

This option is only available to Keeper Plus users.

To allow yourself and the rest of the community to view all images and videos, and to enable everyone to download their own copy of these mementos, upgrade your account to Keeper Plus.

This memento is not visible to visitors

Your community has posted {itemCount} more pictures and videos that honor {firstName}'s memory. To view them all, and to enable everyone to download their own copy of each, this account will need to upgrade to Keeper Plus.

View all images and videos with Keeper Plus

Our Obituary Assistant helps you craft a meaningful life story in minutes. Review and edit every detail, and unlock more features with Keeper Plus.

Obituary Assistant

Spend as much time as you need working on your Memorial page before it is visible to the public, and much more, when you upgrade to Keeper Plus.

Save Page as Draft

Create unlimited event pages and unlock a suite of powerful features to help you seamlessly coordinate event details, invites, and more when you upgrade to Keeper Plus.

Event

Create a full picture of your loved one’s community and add unlimited family and friends to Loved Ones when you upgrade to Keeper Plus.

Loved One

Create unlimited Memorials — and unlock unlimited images and videos, event pages, and advanced privacy settings — to help you keep memories alive when you upgrade to Keeper Plus.

Memorial Page

Add unlimited Stories to highlight the all the things that made your loved one unique, from milestones, images, albums, documents, locations, and much more.

Highlight Stories

Upgrading to Keeper Plus means you can add additional Keepers to help you gather Mementos and tributes, approve content, build out a family tree, and tell {firstName}' story on Keeper.

Invite Keepers with Keeper Plus

Upload and display unlimited photos and videos, use unlimited Story templates to highlight key moments, and allow friends and family to download their own copies when you upgrade to Keeper Plus. 

Better Mementos with Keeper Plus

To access memorial related configurations that control the display of the banner upgrade to Keeper Plus.

This configuration  is not available on your current plan

Create a meaningful link path to add a personal touch to {firstName}'s memorial.

Custom Memorial link

Gift Messages

SENDING AS A GIFT?

Cart

About 1-800 Flowers

"Flowers were beautiful and they arrived in time before the funeral. Thank you and will purchase more in the future.!"

Hearing Tears

"Beautiful flowers, I've always enjoyed sending them to my love ones for sympathy and they have always love them very much Thanks for making people feel good when receiving them."

Sympathy

"This was true to the photo and good to know family took arrangement after the service."

Beautiful arrangement.  Perfect size for service.

Some of the great things our customers say about us

We're here to make it a little easier, with thoughtful gifts for the services & home, along with expert advice on how to be there during a difficult time.

Flowers

Gift Baskets

Express Your Deepest Sympathy

About Us

Perfect Condolence Gift

No one is meant to grieve alone

Peace and love

Product is made, packaged, and sent with love

Keepsakes

How to add your gift message

Packaging Information

Shipping information

Add a Personalized Charm to the Ornament:

Other Keepsakes

Install KeeperQR onto any headstone, urn, or other memorial in minutes.

Install

Use your phone or tablet to scan the unique code — no other tools required!

Scan

All three of our elegant KeeperQR designs are printed using durable, weather-resistant aluminum designed for indoors and outdoor use on headstones and urns, memorial benches and trees, or other monuments to your loved one’s life

Built to Last

Get <discount>50% off</discount> Keeper Plus with your KeeperQR purchase

Keeper Basic

Learn About Our Plans

Connect the physical and digital worlds to share your loved one’s life story with friends and family, no matter where they are.

KeeperQR Memorial QR Code Plaques

Planting a memorial tree or bereavement tree is a unique, environmentally conscious way to pay tribute and honor the memory of your loved one. Keeper Memorials is supporting American Forests to plant whitebark pine trees as well as thornscrub trees in select regions of the US and Canada.

Memorial Trees

KeeperQR is designed to pair seamlessly with a Keeper digital memorial. Use our FREE intuitive tools to create biographies, maps, and timelines, share photos and videos, and more with customizable features built to commemorate your loved one’s life’s story.

Powered by Keeper

Lifetime without any hidden costs or subscription traps

One time payment

Keeper is SOC2 compliant, keeping your memories safe and secure.

Data protection guaranteed

We bring your QR Codes to any corner of the globe

Worldwide Shipping

Our durable and beautiful QR code plaques create seamless connection between your loved one’s physical memorial and their digital memorial, allowing visitors to their final resting place instant access to their life legacy.

Memorial.

Honor their memory, share their story

A KeeperQR is a weather-resistant plaque with a custom QR code that links directly to your loved one’s digital memorial. When placed on a headstone, urn, bench, or tree, it allows friends and family to scan and view their life story instantly

What is a KeeperQR?

They’re built to withstand outdoor elements and adhere to most surfaces.

Where can I place the KeeperQR?

How does it work?

Frequently asked questions

KeeperQR

E-Certificate Design

Plant Memorial Trees as a Living Tribute

BRAZIL

CANADA

FLORIDA

OREGON

Memorial Project Reach

Memorial trees start at {price} per tree, with discounts for multiple trees

Our Commitment

Gift Baskets & Food

Keeper Plus

QR Plaques

Keepers Featured Products

A Greener Way to Remember

Learn about our Partners:

Help Us Complete Your Order

Remembrance Store

Through your unique link, your client can sign up for Keeper and create a Memorial for a loved one. When the Memorial page is completed by the family, it will appear on your microsite and website. You will be the main Keeper Administrator of the Memorial, along with the family member that created the page.

Invite Your Clients to Create a Memorial

Invite Families

Your Email Notifications

Notifications

Email Unsubscribe Settings

Other Settings

With your active Keeper PLUS subscription, you get unlimited access to a suite of powerful features:

Allow visitors to download a local copy of all images and videos.

Download Media

Create a custom and meaningful URL, unique to your loved one, for each Memorial page.

Editable URL

Plan public or private events and invite your loved ones.

Event Pages

Add images and create profile pages to illustrate the history and genealogy of your loved one.

Family Tree

Invite unlimited administrators to help you manage every Memorial page you have.

Keeper Administrators

Visitors enjoy unrestricted access to all uploaded images and videos.

Unlimited Media

Create unlimited Memorial pages for your loved ones.

Memorial Pages

You will be able to upload Full HD videos instead of embedded links.

Video Uploading

Your Profile

Add a business user

Edit a business user

Are you sure you want to delete these users from these brands? You will need to manually add these users again.

If the user is a part of multiple brands, you will have to delete the user from each one individually

Delete Users from Brands?

Users Settings & Notifications

Users

Are you sure you want to delete these users? This action will revoke their privileges across all brands.

Are you sure you want to delete this user? This action will revoke their privileges across all brands.

Delete Users from all Brands?

Delete User from Brand?

Are you sure you want to delete {totalDeletes} from this user?

Delete Roles from this User?

Are you sure you want to delete this user from this brand? You will need to manually add this user again.

Delete User from this Brand?

Requires users to confirm their email every time they would like to share a tribute on a Memorial page.

When Email Tribute Validation is turned OFF, Guest users do not need to confirm their email address before their tribute is published.

When Email Tribute Validation is turned ON, Guest users will need to confirm their email address before their tribute is published. They will receive an email with a confirmation link they must click.

Requires users to confirm their email only the first time they would like to share a tribute on a Memorial page.

Email Tribute Validation

If Flagged Content is turned OFF, content that has been flagged will remain public until they have been Approved or Removed from the Requests Center.

If Flagged Content is turned ON, content that has been flagged will be hidden until they have been Approved or Removed from the Requests Center.

Hide Flagged Content

Language

Email Notifications

Are you sure you want to delete the Memorial for {name}? This action will permanently remove the memorial from the system.

Delete Memorial?

When Memorial Request Moderation is turned OFF, Memorials will automatically be published.

When Memorial Request Moderation is turned ON, Memorials will only be published if and when you approve them. Memorials can be published or deleted in the Requests center.

Memorial Request Moderation

Moderation Settings

This will permanently delete your account. The business account, and business page will not be deleted. To deactivate your account, there must be another admin user assigned to your organization.

Are you sure you want to deactivate this account?

When Override Tribute Moderation is turned OFF, the tribute moderation settings on Memorial pages will be hidden and other Keepers cannot override the tribute moderation settings specified by your organization.

When Override Tribute Moderation is turned ON, other Keepers can view and change the tribute moderation settings of the Memorial pages they manage. (Each Memorial page will default to the organization’s tribute moderation setting upon creation.) 

Override Tribute Moderation

If the AI Content Moderation is OFF, text areas containing profane language will be published.  Tributes can however be flagged and removed at any time.

If the AI Content Moderation is ON, text areas containing profane language will not be published and the user will receive an error message.

AI Content Moderation

When Tribute Moderation is turned OFF, Tributes will automatically be published. Once published, users can flag inappropriate or spam content. You can instantly delete any Tributes published on a Memorial that you administer.

When Tribute Moderation is turned ON, Tributes will only be published if and when you approve them. Tributes can be approved or rejected in the Requests center.

Benjamin Grebenc Obituary | Altogether