After tracking down a lost surfboard made by his late father and surprising his mom, a young filmmaker felt compelled to learn more about his dad by tracing the boards he made back to the people who loved him most.
South Carolina-born Troy Bedenbaugh, 25, lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, and runs a video production company. His father, Mikell Ralph Bedenbaugh, passed away on Aug. 17, 2004, when Troy was 7 years old.
“I didn’t even realize the effect of it until later,” Troy told The Epoch Times. “He actually died of a massive heart attack. It was the last thing anyone expected. ... He died, actually, while he was surfing.
“Making the film ‘One Lost Many Found,’ the biggest thing that I learned was just the importance of living life, to not only serve yourself, but to serve others, and to cherish those around you. ... Twenty years later, people were still crying in the interviews because of the things that [my dad] did for them. Even after he died, being able to see the impact he made [on others] really had a strong effect on me.”
The Missing Surfboard
Mikell “did a lot of things” to make ends meet, Troy said, but one thing he excelled at was shaping surfboards. After his death, an artist painted a memorial mural on the back of one of his boards, and the board became Troy’s mother, Robin’s, favorite. Robin and her second husband lost the board by accident in a cross-country move from Michigan to Minnesota in 2016.“One weekend, me and my friend from college went to go pack up the house and the surfboard got left behind, but I was under the impression that they were also going to hire movers,” Troy said.
“I just call it a big miscommunication. Long story short, my stepdad said they could sell a lot of the stuff that we [left behind], and somehow the surfboard got sold.”
In July 2020, Troy decided to start looking for the missing surfboard. He reached out to local auctions with no luck before looking up his mom’s old home on the internet, calling the present owners, and striking gold.
They weren’t keen to sell the board, but in September 2020 they made an offer and Troy snapped it up; he wanted to surprise his mom for Christmas. “My best friend’s dad ... he picked it up for me and shipped it to North Carolina, to my sister’s house. That’s where I surprised my mom,” Troy said.
Troy’s footage has over 15 million views to date. While shocked, the filmmaker believes the “raw, honest story” must resonate easily with anyone who has lost a loved one.
‘One Lost Many Found’
Mikell and Robin got married on April 11, 1980. They had three daughters and two sons together.One weekend when the kids were away, Mikell suffered a massive heart attack while surfing after a hurricane; with the help of a passing medic on the beach, Robin called an ambulance, and Mikell spent two days on life support.
“That allowed my sisters to come back and essentially say goodbye, but he was brain dead at that point ... my brother and I were so young, we didn’t go in the room,” Troy said. “Some of his last words were [that] he wanted to get his surfboard, because he had just made it ... then he passed away, right in my mom’s arms.”
Troy laments that he had “zero memories” of his father.
“I interviewed eight people, a mix of family and my dad’s close friends,” he said. “Basically what I did was discover him through the boards that he shaped and left behind ... as a device to discover who he was.”
Troy flew to California to meet Mikell’s old surfing buddies and even located his father’s signed memorial board from his “paddle out,” the group surf outing held in his memory. Troy learned both that his six-foot, athletic, funny father had a close-knit social circle and that humility is paramount.
“He didn’t have a ton of friends, but the ones that he did have he obviously impacted very strongly,” Troy said.
As a 25-year-old man, Troy knows he resembles his father. After moving to Florida, his wife encouraged him to get back into surfing, and Troy began missing his father more than ever.
“I was like, ‘I’ve never really felt this before,’” Troy said. “Growing up, I didn’t think of him. But now ... him missing big moments, or even the small moments, I definitely would love to just talk to him.
“The majority of what people strive for in life, no one’s ever gonna remember it ... but people do remember the impact you left on them personally. So if I could say anything, it’s just, don’t take for granted the people around you in your life. It’s never going to be perfect, but do your best to serve others and be present with others, and live a life that’s selfless.”
