Groton — Not far from the waters where Mitchell Kuflik spent much of his time is a bench bearing his name.

Etched next to his name and the dates '1989-2015' is a lighthouse, an image Kuflik's close friend Sam Marques, who designed the inscription, chose for its significance. El faro means lighthouse in Spanish.

Kuflik, 26, was an officer and engineer on the cargo ship El Faro, which sank near the Bahamas during Hurricane Joaquin in October 2015, killing all 33 crew members aboard. The disaster was one of the worst involving cargo ships in more than 30 years, the chairman of the Marine Board of Investigation said in February.

The memorial for Kuflik was installed in late April in Spicer Memorial Park, a spot chosen by his mother, Donna Griffin, because Kuflik learned to crew in the surrounding waters.

Kuflik was a natural athlete who took to crew immediately, Griffin said. She recalled how he won a solo race on the Mystic River in 2004. It was his first year rowing for the Fitch Crew Club, now known as the Noank Rowing Club.

Kuflik's first-place finish was in the single scull event, known to be mentally trying because, as his coach Kristen Negaard O'Brien put it, "a single sculler is fighting the world by themselves."

She's created a new award in his honor, the Mitch Kuflik Single Sculler Award, for a youth "who shines and is at their best in a single scull."

O'Brien remembers Kuflik as "always being joyful" and having a "wonderful independence."

"He could do stuff on his own and be just fine with it, which is pretty unusual for young people," she said.

When she heard Kuflik had died, O'Brien went to the club's boat house and pulled out the life preserver, "her heart of hearts," that Kuflik's team gave to her in 2005.

"I wish I could've given it back to him when he needed it," she said.

Kuflik's love for the sea started when he was a baby, according to Griffin, who said she took him to the beach within weeks of his birth. At age 14, he began volunteering on the schooner Argia, where he did everything from clean the decks to serve food to the guests. Kuflik formed a close bond with the crew and would visit them whenever he came home.

Kuflik's celebration of life ceremony was held on the vessel. The crew volunteered their time to take the Argia out of mothballs to ready it for the ceremony.

Kuflik graduated from Fitch High School in 2007 and went on to study at the Maine Maritime Academy. He couldn't work topside on a ship because he was colorblind, so he went into engineering, Griffin said. After graduating from Maine Maritime in the spring of 2011, he did a fifth year of study graduating with a degree in Marine Systems Engineering.

He worked in the engine room of the Long Island ferry until moving in the fall of 2012 to New York with his longtime girlfriend, Brittany Shinn. The couple, who became best friends in seventh grade, became engaged in January 2015.

After Kuflik joined the American Maritime Officer's Union in the fall of 2013, he was immediately hired onto the El Faro.

He would spend 70 days out to sea and 70 days at home. Kuflik was a people person with a big personality, the life of the party, his mother said. He'd told her how he enjoyed interacting with the Polish crew members aboard the El Faro. And Griffin is sure he talked with them about food.

He was a "foodie" and would eat anything, she said, recalling that he ate fermented duck when he was in Singapore and bugs in Vietnam.

Since Kuflik's death, Griffin said the family has received a "wealth of support" from extended family, friends and coworkers. Her coworkers at the Mohegan Tribal Government made a donation to the Groton Parks and Recreation Department for their help with the bench. The money was used for the annual Tour de Noank 5K, held on June 11. A moment of silence was held in honor of Kuflik before the race began.

Kuflik's father, Greg, tries to visit the bench at least once a week "just to sit and think of him."

"It's someplace I can go and be with him," Greg Kuflik said.

j.bergman@theday.com