Whether it’s baseball, fishing or horseplay, Justin Teson was a good friend to plenty of children in Montgomery County.

“He was really kind to us,” said Alex Oden, who is one of those children. “He used to mess around all of the time with us.”

Oden and eight other children – all of them are elementary school students – helped out in the Justin Teson Benefit under chilly conditions on Dec. 4 at the Jonesburg Ball Park, near Jonesburg Elementary School. The event – named after a Jonesburg resident who passed away at age 35 on Nov. 12 in Michigan – had a silent auction and sold food items such as chili, tacos, brats, hot dogs, burgers and fries.

The five-hour benefit was a successful one as it raised thousands of dollars to help out the Teson family.

“I’m so proud of what the community has done for them,” said Fran Ludy, who shared event coordinating duties with daughter-in-law, Patty.

Layne Greeves, Brody Ludy, Blaine Nordwald, Aubrey Oden, Blake Ridgley, Gus Ridgley, Keane Ridgley and McCullie Schluss were the other children in attendance. They are the friends of Teson’s 11-year-old son, Landon.

“They helped stock soda, they brought everything in and unloaded everything,” Fran Ludy said. “When we get busy, they’ll help, too. They’re pretty amazing kids. And so are all of their parents. All of their parents have worked hard.”

There were more than 70 items in the silent auction that included two quilts, a gift card from Colton’s Steak House and Grill, a wine basket, lottery tickets, kitchen set, sunglasses, an American flag and fishing poles. There was also a raffle for a quarter of beef from Davis Meats, and the winner of that contest will be announced on Feb. 1.

Nordwald said he was pleased with the large turnout.

“It’s pretty cool how you can stir up the whole entire town and make it into one family,” he said.

During the first hour of the event, all of the children talked about the good memories they had with Teson under the Jonesburg Ball Park pavilion.

Brody Ludy said his favorite moment with Teson was going fishing with him at the Lake of the Ozarks.

“It was pretty fun,” he said.

Greeves said he enjoyed playing coach-pitch with Teson. Coach-pitch is a technique where players under nine years old bat a baseball that is safely pitched to them by their own coach.

“He was the best ever in coach-pitch,” Greeves said.

Fran Ludy said all of the children came up with the idea of having a benefit for Teson.

“During the summertime, they had a lot of lemonade stands,” she said. “When Justin passed away, they wanted to have a fundraiser. They want to sell hot chocolate and chili, which blew up into other good food. We had a bunch of stuff donated for the silent auction. Basically, all of these kids’ parents are out here helping them. We’re pretty proud that they want to do such a nice thing.”

Ludy worked as the childcare provider for the Teson family. Besides Landon, Teson also had a pair of daughters – 2-year-old Madi and 5-year-old Maci.

“They were in our home daycare for nine or so years,” Ludy said. “That’s how I kind of met Justin. He was asking me about child care. We became really good friends.”