KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Community members, family and friends will gather in Cox Auditorium Sunday afternoon for a celebration of life memorializing a beloved 24-year-old who died after spending years advocating for people with special needs.
Ben Kredich died on Aug. 21 while walking on the sidewalk along Kingston Pike. A man accused of driving while impaired hit him. Every Monday, he met with his dad to have dinner at Sunspot. He would walk when the weather was nice and when it was light outside. That Monday, he was on his way to meet his father once again.
He and his mother Kim Kredich had previously made proposals to the University of Tennessee and talked to lawmakers about allowing UT's FUTURE Program to include independent living. The program helps students with special needs bridge the gap between high school and adult life.
Ben also spoke before the Knoxville Transportation Authority around a year ago, in July 2022, asking them not to suspend Route 10. The route went through the Sequoyah Hills area, and he said he started taking the bus in 2017 after starting at the UT FUTURE Program.
"My name is Ben Kredich and I take the Number 10 Sequoyah Hills bus several times each week, to and from my jobs on UT campus and downtown. I also catch the Number 10 bus after I close Treetop Coffee Shop to meet my dad at Sunspot for dinner because the fries are my favorite," Ben said at the podium. "I understand why my neighborhood bus route might disappear for a while, but I don't want it to go away forever. The Number 10 bus stop takes me a half-dozen minutes to walk to and is safe. The Number 11 bus stop takes me three-dozen minutes to walk to and is sketchy because cars drive so fast on Kingston Pike."
Ben was diagnosed with autism when he was two-and-a-half years old and later lived a life filled with music.
"He found music everywhere - in instruments, machines, strings, food, kitchenware, nature, and in people, often coaxing individuals and even groups into song. Ben played piano, cello, percussion, ukulele, dulcimer, mandolin, synthesizer, guitar, and bass guitar," his obituary says.
The celebration of life will be on Aug. 27 at Cox Auditorium, located at the Alumni Memorial Building. Its address is 1408 Middle Dr., and it will start at 2 p.m.