Building inspector remembered for work ethic

Longtime Whitefish Chief Building Official Virgil Bench died Monday after battling cancer for several months. He was 63.

Friends and colleagues say he excelled at his job and had a work ethic that was second to none.

“He was a man of very high integrity,” said Allen Clark, a Whitefish area contractor who has worked in the building industry for 40 years. “He used common sense in a political position. We could count on him; his word was golden.”

Bench started work as a building inspector for the city of Whitefish in 1990 and became chief building official in 1993. He spent his entire life in the building industry, working as a custom-home builder in Grand Junction, Colorado, before moving his family to Whitefish in 1985 and continuing in the building trades until joining the city staff.

Former Whitefish Building Inspector Jerry Quinn said Bench was always thorough in his duties as a building inspector.

“He was good help,” Quinn said. “What I always explained to people was that I guarantee you’ll get your money’s worth from our inspections.”

Through a contract arrangement between Whitefish and the city of Columbia Falls, Bench also served as the building inspector for Columbia Falls for a number of years.

Whitefish City Clerk Necile Lorang said Bench was dedicated to his job.

“Virgil was great to work with,” Lorang said. “He was a nice guy and had a good sense of humor. We all loved him.”

When local builders learned last fall that Bench was undergoing treatment for small-cell lung cancer, they rallied to build a house for Bench in the Kila area that he had planned over time as a retirement home.

Bench and his wife, Rosalie, sold their home in Whitefish. He and his son, Logan, were about a month into the building project when Bench learned of his cancer diagnosis in early May 2015.

Steve Symington of Control Electric, a friend of the Bench family, started the ball rolling early last summer to rally other builders to help the family build the home. Malmquist Construction Project Manager Tyler Frank then helped spearhead a “builder blast” in September.

Volunteers, family members and local businesses and builders finished the home on Jan. 5, wrapping up the final installations of countertops and trim and completing the plumbing. Unfortunately, Frank said, Bench was hospitalized a few days before the home was dubbed complete.

“We took him pictures,” Frank said. “He slept under that roof before he got into the hospital. When I first talked to him about helping him out, his biggest goal, if cancer was going to get the best of him, was that he wanted to eliminate any burden to his family.

“The community definitely stepped up to the plate,” Frank said. “We built the house in a little less than for months with a lot of volunteer labor and donated materials, and financial contributions.”

Logan Bench said last fall his father was humbled by the outpouring of support “because he’s never had to ask for anything in his life. He’s always done everything by himself.

“Dad is one of the hardest workers I know,” Logan said.

The family moved Bench into his new home the day after Christmas.

“He stayed there until 10 days ago,” Logan said. “Everyone was home for Christmas. It was a very special Christmas.”

Once the final details were completed, Logan took a videotape of the home interior to his father in the hospital.

His father never gave up the will to live, he added.

“He fought this thing to his last breath,” Logan said. “Even when we suggested hospice, he said, ‘I’m not done fighting.’”

Bench is survived by his wife, Rosalie, daughters Samantha and Megan, sons Logan, Cody and Justin, and nine grandchildren.

A gathering to remember Bench will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 16, at the Kila School gymnasium.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.