About

ONE MAN, THREE VOICES, THREE SEPARATE BIOS

​

Ben grew up in Townsend, Montana, the youngest of three children, raised on hunting, fishing, wide open country, and a father who taught him that risk was just part of daily life. He joined the Navy at nineteen on a whim, worked construction across the West, raised a family, and built a legitimate career in public service. He lives with his wife Helen on 2.5 acres in southwest Montana, surrounded by US Forest Service land.

​

He enjoys hunting, skiing, mountain biking, and maintaining the forest around his cabin. He is working to become one man. One identity. Ben. The integration of two identities - neither of which he wants to be. He doesn’t want to be Hyde for the obvious reasons. He doesn’t want to be Jekyll, a good man but he is the man who harbors Hyde within. He is seventy-one-years old and still figuring himself out.

​

Dr. Jekyll is reliable, hardworking, and respected. He earned a commendation from a two-star admiral. He operated heavy equipment on major Exxon projects in Wyoming and Colorado. He contracted with the US Forest Service for eight years maintaining mountain roads across Montana. He built homes, developed land, managed public infrastructure, and showed up every single day. The people who work with him trust him completely. He is real. He is not a cover story. But he is the man who harbors Hyde within.

​

Mr. Hyde felt nothing while committing serious crimes. He trafficked drugs across state lines for fifteen years. He burned down a hotel for ten thousand dollars. He defrauded insurance companies. He lied to police, employers, family, and friends without hesitation or remorse. He was arrested at Flagg Ranch in Grand Teton National Park on Memorial Day 1988 and served time in federal prison. He is still here. His moral compass has changed. But he is still here.

​

Mr. Hyde and Me is Ben's attempt to finally understand how all three of them shared one life for seven decades.