Bruce Anthony Townsend

Bruce was born in Chicago, and his family moved to Boulder in 1969. He graduated from Fairview High School in 1977, moved to Longmont soon after, and lived there for the rest of his life. Bruce began his career with the City of Longmont in the late 1970’s, and then worked as a design engineer at Seagate, Emerson, and most recently at Medtronic (formerly Covidien) in Boulder.

Anyone who knew Bruce enjoyed his wit and sense of humor. A memory recently shared with his family involved a prank played on a coworker who was known for applying lotion to his hands several times a day. Bruce replaced the lotion with mayonnaise, and later watched the friend apply it vigorously and leave work for the day.

From the moment his family relocated to Boulder, Bruce immediately became one with the outdoors. He loved camping, fishing, geo-caching, and just generally being “where the people aren’t”. Two of his favorite places were The Miracle Mile in Wyoming and Moab, Utah. Bruce had 5 dogs throughout his life, and all of them enjoyed outdoor adventures with him— he even built custom dog seats for his vehicles so he could have a canine co-pilot while driving or four-wheeling.

Bruce liked to engage all of his senses, listening to music on enormous speakers, building things in his impeccably organized garage workshop, lighting scented candles, and eating food of all kinds. Even during chemotherapy, he was happy to have pie for dinner. Bruce also played and collected guitars, though he was a shy performer and most enjoyed playing to an audience of one: himself.

For the last three years, Bruce fought a courageous and determined battle against metastatic cancer. His positive and stoic attitude during his hardest times and toughest treatments was an inspiration to his family and many friends. He remained in good spirits until the very end.

Bruce is survived by his brother Donald (Kathy), his sister Susan, his nieces Kristin, Jennifer, and Kaitlyn, nephews Scott, Robert, and Andrew, and his loving and loyal dog, Booker.

A private inurnment service will be held at Mountain View Memorial Park in Boulder to lay Bruce to rest with his parents, brother, and grandmother. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the Longmont Humane Society.