The Man Coming In From the Fields
"A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross."
— Mark 15:21
Simon was walking into the city from the fields and had nothing to do with any of this. Soldiers could conscript a passer-by on the spot, and they did. Mark names his two sons, which is strange in a sentence this short. The likeliest reason is that the first readers knew Alexander and Rufus personally. So the worst interruption of Simon's life is also the reason anyone remembers his name.