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A longtime Benton Franklin Fair Board member killed in a tragic tractor accident Wednesday night is being remembered for his passion for the annual county fair, his love of agriculture and his avid support of Pasco High School sports.
Mike Ross, 65, was mowing weeds on his 16-acre farm property in north Franklin County when his tractor hit a large cement pipe, causing the tractor to roll on top of him. His wife called 911 just before 6 p.m. after she went to check on him and found him pinned under the tractor, authorities said.
"He had a full-time job besides farming and worked like 10 to 12 hours a day, then he'd come home and work on the farm," said his daughter, K.C. Bennion. "He got home and it was dark ... but he had to finish and do those few things before it gets frozen.
"He died doing what he loved."
Ross worked at Energy Northwest as a member of the Columbia Generation Station maintenance scheduling team. His 20th anniversary there was this month, officials said, and friends say he was planning to retire in January.
When he wasn't at work, he often could be found at the fairgrounds helping out with just about anything that needed to get done, said Lori Lancaster, manager of the Benton Franklin Fair & Rodeo.
Ross had been a fair board member since 1992 and was in charge of booking top entertainers for the fair.
"He was the lead in getting the Beach Boys last year and making all the arrangements," Lancaster said. "He worked tirelessly for that. He would be out there doing physical labor, checking the sound equipment ... he took it seriously and he wanted to put on a good event for the community."
Jeff Fulks, a close friend who met Ross 17 years ago through the fair board, added that Ross "thoroughly enjoyed the fair and the entertainers and the headaches that went with it," including dealing with all the entertainers' specific backstage requests.
Ross already was making plans for next year's fair and had a trip set for after Thanksgiving to go to Las Vegas to look for more entertainers, Fulks said.
Ross and his wife, Janis, also were past chaperones for the fair royalty.
"It's a huge loss. Mike is a big piece of institutional memory for the fair board. He's been around for 17 years and it never got old to him," Lancaster said. "He was always excited about the next fair and looking forward to it. He was always pitching in ... doing what needed to get done."
Bennion said her father grew up loving agriculture and wanted everybody to have that same experience. He was a strong supporter of 4-H. He raised horses, sheep and hay on the family farm.
How he had time to work full time, have a side farming job, volunteer hours at the fair and still spend time with his family, grandsons and friends is anyone's guess.
"He didn't do anything that he didn't do 100 percent," Bennion said. "He was a perfectionist at everything he did."
Ross moved from California to the Tri-Cities after high school and attended Columbia Basin College, but he was definitely a Pasco High sports enthusiast, his friends and family said.
It didn't matter if it was football, basketball or baseball, he "went to all the Pasco High games," Bennion said. "He loved Pasco athletics and supported me and my friends. Now he watches his grandkids play and spent all summer long at Little League."
Bennion has two sons, Spencer, 13, and Austin, 10, and her sister, Joy Sanders, has a 11/2-year-old boy, Sebastian.
Ross and his wife were married for 43 years.
A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Nov. 13 at the fairgrounds. A viewing is planned for 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday at Hillcrest/Bruce Lee Memorial Center in Pasco.
"We're all going to work really hard to put this next fair on in his honor," Lancaster said. "Now is the time we're picking bands. It was his season. It's a big loss. We're going to carry it on ... and hope we can do it right for him."
-- Paula Horton: 582-1556; phorton@tricityherald.com
