One of the important benchmark candidates for the SPEChpc 2021 Benchmark Suites, PiconGPU, is a challenging and sophisticated C++ application that stresses compilers and a software tool’s ability to support it. Just getting a successful compile with LLVM, a broadly used compiler, took a heroic effort. Jeffrey Kelling, however, persisted and was then able to provide valuable input to many SPEC members struggling to compile the code on their own compiler. Through these efforts, he advanced the development of these compilers by years and graciously shared his considerable skill and knowledge to solve the many technical issues this challenging benchmark candidate presented.