Bruce Bennett

Bruce was born on April 4, 1943, to Adrian and Betsy Bennett in Edina, Minnesota. His parents could not think of a middle name for him, so Bruce remained “no middle name” all his life. His early years were in Minnesota and then the family moved to Carmel, California where they lived in a house near the Carmel River Beach. He finally got his first dog, Woody, and the two of them loved playing on the rocks and the beach. Bruce graduated from Carmel High School and the University of California Berkeley and after a short period of playing jazz and ragtime piano in bars and working for his father’s company, he attended the College of the Redwoods to become a history and English teacher. He loved teaching and his signature sense of humor endeared him to his students. He met his wife, Nina, on a blind date arranged by friends and they married in 1971 and were married for 53 years. Bruce and Nina taught at schools in Ferndale, California and lived on a beautiful piece of property with a menagerie of animals. Shortly after their two sons, Seth and Matt, were born, they decided they had enough of cold, wet, and foggy weather and moved to the sunshine of Boulder, Colorado. In Boulder, Bruce’s daughter, Betsy, was born and completed their family. Bruce loved gardening, feeding birds, anything related to music, and tinkering with old cars especially 1950’s Buicks. Bruce retired from teaching and built houses for Habitat for Humanity, then went to Iliff School of Theology and Luther Seminary. At age 60, Bruce became an ordained Lutheran pastor, associate of Mt. Calvary Church in Boulder, and took groups to Tanzania to help AIDS orphans. Bruce always loved reading and learning and sharing his passions with others. It wasn’t long before he was prevailed upon to teach history again at Boulder Country Day School. Retiring again, Bruce found new joy in his grandkids Lydia, Sarah, Ryder, Meri, and Jaxon. Bruce spent an entire summer planning, designing, and building a treehouse inspired and inspected meticulously by his grandkids. When the grandkids visited, Bruce could rarely be located inside the house as he was always enjoying the outdoors, but when he was inside, he typically had a book, a cup of coffee, a dog, a puzzle, and some music nearby. Bruce was survived by his brother Adrian, his sister Marta, his wife, Nina, his children and grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews who loved him dearly. Bruce passed away on Oct. 8, 2024, surrounded by love. We will all miss his laughter and humor. A Celebration of Life will be held at 2:00 p.m., Sunday, November 10, 2024, at Atonement Lutheran Church, 685 Inca Parkway, Boulder, CO 80303.  Donations in honor of Bruce may be made to Colorado Public Radio (https://cpr.org)