CORVALLIS, Ore. — Beci Loeschen was hoping to raise in the neighborhood of $2,500 for 4-H Youth Development in Benton County in the first Kyle Loeschen Memorial Golf Tournament, held in June 2024 at Trysting Tree Golf Club in Corvallis.
“I was thinking that if we could make $2,500, that would be great,” she said.
The Loeschens chose to donate proceeds from the tournament to 4-H because of the family’s appreciation for the OSU Extension program.
Instead, at the close of the tournament, Loeschen handed Carolyn Ashton, Oregon State University Extension Service 4-H faculty member, a check for $11,500. The amount shocked Loeschen and Ashton. The Loeschen family and friends will be at it again this year, sponsoring a second Kyle Loeschen Memorial Golf Tournament, June 28, again at Trysting Tree.
The donation the family provided 4-H in Benton County last year was just one of the benefits that family and friends of Kyle Loeschen reaped last June, a little over a year after Kyle died tragically in a car accident in May of 2023 at the age of 40.
The tournament also helped Kyle’s family and friends heal, if just a little, from the pain of Kyle’s untimely passing, Loeschen said.
“It was a real healing thing for our whole family, and for Kyle’s friends, too," she said.
A 4-H family
This event is one of the only 4-H fundraising activities in Benton County that is unassociated with the 4-H program. The idea for the tournament came from Kyle’s friend, Angie Sawyer. And then others pitched in, Loeschen said.
“She came up with the idea, went out and got a lot of sponsors and Jeff [Luksch] put flyers together and did promo work and a lot of the organizing. And other people pitched in. Our family’s role is just to be there,” she said.
The Loeschens chose to donate proceeds from the tournament to 4-H because of the family’s appreciation for the OSU Extension program. Gordon and Beci Loeschen’s four children all participated in 4-H from when they were in grade school through high school. Beci has worked in the 4-H office in Benton County and the family regularly volunteered to help with 4-H animal exhibits during the Benton County Fair.
“We were pretty involved, and it was a lot of fun,” Loeschen said.
Their children participated in several activities, Loeschen said, but mostly concentrated on large animals, with Kyle focusing on hogs. As an adult, Kyle continued to participate in 4-H, working the ring for many years at the Benton County Lee Allen Memorial Youth Auction.
“Kyle loved the whole atmosphere of 4-H, and all of our kids were really big into the leadership training and trying to learn things and be more productive citizens through 4-H,” Loeschen said.
The money the family contributed last year was used to help 4-H members attend leadership events across the state and outside of Oregon, — opportunities that are often difficult for families to afford, Ashton said.
“Those leadership opportunities are really important, and that money is helping provide partial scholarships to members to participate,” Ashton said. “The family has been super generous.”
'Friends with everybody'
To date, 49 youths have benefited from last year’s donations.
“We are just real interested in helping these kids get to the leadership trainings,” Loeschen said. “It can be expensive. If they go to nationals, it’s over $1,000 for them to participate.”
“I think Kyle would be really proud that his name is being used to help these kids, because he loved kids,” Loeschen added. “He didn’t have any kids of his own, but he loved kids, and he loved 4-H.”
“He was one of those people who was friends with everybody. We had his memorial out here at our property and we had over 400 people attend,” Loeschen said. “So, that says something about the impact that he made in people’s lives. He would give you the shirt off of his back. He was that kind of person.”
The Kyle Loeschen Memorial Golf Tournament raises funds through sponsorships from local businesses such as RiverBend Materials, where Kyle worked for many years, and Tommy’s 4th Street Bar and Grill in Corvallis, which is owned by one of Kyle’s long-time friends. Businesses and individuals can sponsor holes on the golf course or make donations directly to the memorial fund.
As for the future of the event, it seems Kyle’s friends aren’t planning to shut it down anytime soon.
“The idea of his friends is to keep this going for as long as they can maintain it,” Loeschen said. “And we plan to keep giving the money to 4-H, because that is where our heart is.”
For more information on the tournament, visit www.kloopen.org.
This story originally appeared in GROWING, a publication of OSU Extension Service in Linn and Benton counties.
