What a happy day it was when Ben was born. Roy called all his friends from the hospital telling them, "I have a son!" He looked like a prince. He was so beautiful. Benjamin Christian Murdock, born in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, December 8, 1980.

He was very musical, extremely gifted, and had an incredible memory. At nineteen months, Roy went to read him some Nursery Rhymes. Benny seemed impatient hearing them until Roy started to sing them. This delighted Benny, who had Roy to sing 18 of them. The next evening Roy went to sing them again. After the first one, Benny grabbed the book and proceeded to recite the next 17 of them, word for word, after hearing them only once the night before. At 22 months we bought him a puzzle map of the United States. Within a week, he knew the names of all 50 states, and could place them all where they belonged. A week later he knew the capitals of all the states.

Shortly before that, he began to read. Before he was 2 1/2, he could read at a second grade level, and would order his own food at restaurants from their menus. All this we kept to ourselves, not wishing to exploit him in any way, and also not wishing to frighten anyone. It was both scary and wondrous to us. We wondered what God had in store. We spent many hours at the 6 or 7 local libraries reading everything we could find on gifted children, trying to understand what we should do. One time Roy went to share with his best friend a few things Benny had done. "Yeah", replied his friend, "I remember when I was born." That showed us clearly that no one could possibly understand. It was outrageous. It was beyond understanding. It was seemingly impossible.

Ben adored music and had an incredibly tender heart. At two, he would listen to Bobby Vinton singing, "Lonely, I'm Mr. Lonely," and tears would stream down his face. He loved playing the little toy piano we bought him for his second birthday. When he was three, we bought a used organ. When he was four, we bought a new upright piano. He also took up the violin at four. When he was six years old, he was a winner in the Minnesota State Piano competition. He had perfect pitch, able to name any note played on the piano, with his back turned to the piano. His improvisations were pure genius.

Ben was very adventurous and loved being independent. At six and seven, his mother let him ride his bicycle all over. He loved to go downtown and visit with the storekeepers in the various stores. He also liked to go in the cafe and order himself breakfast. When he returned home, he would proudly tell his mother all his adventures.