If you listen closely, you can hear laughter echoing from heaven. Chances are, Benton Wayne Reep is telling a corny joke to entertain the angels. He joined the community of saints on July 4th peacefully and with “his girls” by his side—Sharon, his wife of 54 years, and Cyndi and Teresa, his twin daughters. Thanks to the week the family always spent together for Independence Day, his son-in-law, Eric, and grandchildren Emma and Grayson, were also with him.
Many in Arab will remember “Rooster” from Roosters Coffee Barn, owned and operated by him and Sharon from June 2006 to December 2012. Maybe he told you a joke while you waited for your “flapaccino” or prepared your lunch. He quietly served others through kindness, compassion, and a helpful spirit.
It is fitting that Ben departed for his heavenly home on Independence Day. He loved his country, having proudly served twenty years in the U.S. Navy, retiring as Chief Hospital Corpsman, Submarine Service in 1988. He’d also joke that, this way, fireworks would forever mark his triumphant departure!
Ben loved bass fishing, testing new recipes, woodworking, reading (from Westerns to romances), and shopping on Amazon. He was a guy’s guy who teared up talking about his faith and family. He wasn’t a man of many words, but what he did say mattered. He’d want us to end this—to him an unnecessary tribute—with the line he’d become famous for amongst family and friends. “God loves you, and so do I.”
Ben is survived by his wife, Sharon Reep; his daughter Cyndi Browning and grandson Grayson Browning; his daughter Teresa Tysinger, her husband Eric and Ben’s granddaughter Emma; as well as many nieces, nephews, and extended family from coast to coast who loved him. He is preceded in death by his parents Isaac and Wella Reep; siblings Elsie Webb, VaRue Midgette, David Reep, and Linda Reep; and nephews Ricky Midgette and Louie Webb.
Services will be Saturday, July 12, 2025 at New Brashiers Chapel Globel Methodist Church. Visitation will be 10:30am. Funeral service will be at ll:00am. Reverend Mike Shirley will officiate. Interment will be in the Alabama National Cemetery in Montevallo, AL. Arab Heritage Memorial Chapel entrusted with arrangements.
