Bruce Ables

Bruce, 65, of Arvada, Colorado passed away Sunday, October 7, 2018.

Bruce Evan Ables was a man of the American West. He was quiet and immensely strong, with an eye for the land and a taste for the tales told by trees. That the land and trees, and perhaps the West itself, became something different in the course of his lifetime was a story that incarnated itself not only in Bruce's spirit, but in his body, and ultimately in the depths of his bones. He was unbreakable.

Bruce was born in Denver in 1953. While many now know Bruce for his commitment to his family, absences and divisions marked his own childhood. His father left the family when Bruce was very young, and so he was raised primarily by his mother and grandmother. He had two brothers: one, Larry, became alienated from the family over financial conflicts and largely dropped out of Bruce's life. The other-Tracy Ables-stayed very close with Bruce and continued to visit and care for his little brother up to the very end. Bruce would briefly reconnect with his father later in life; no one can say what that relationship ultimately meant to him.

On the cusp of adulthood, Bruce moved to California with his mother, where she passed away. He then lived in a foster home for several years before meeting Nancee, the love of his life. They would eventually have four children: Travis Evan, born in California; Heather Dawn, born in Kansas; Cameron Dane and Brenton Lance, both born in Denver. Colorado, neither mid- nor far West but right at the heart of it, would become the family's permanent home. In accordance with his indomitable spirit's tendency toward progressive ascent, Bruce was drawn to the mountains, where he built a life for his wife and growing family. Despite a divorce and the travails of kids being kids, the family stayed close, and gathered together in love frequently over the final years of Bruce's life.

To say that Bruce was a hard worker is an almost criminal understatement: for many years, he worked two jobs-often in the same day-to support his family. And he always had plans to do more, whether it was opening a laundromat in Empire (which never transpired) or building the foundation for his customized mountain home by hand (which did). All of this, however, was mere preparation for the longest and most difficult task of his life: surviving from one day to the next as a quadriplegic in the treacherous heights of the Rocky Mountains. It is not necessary to list all of the individual struggles and crises that he had to overcome in this difficult period; with family close by, especially Nancee in his later years, he fought through all of them.

Bruce persevered. He overcame. He was not Disabled, he was an Ables. He woke up every day, sometimes a bit later than the rest of us, and it was never easy. But he kept waking up. He was never, and should never be, an object of pity or grief. On the contrary, we are all very lucky to have known him. His very existence stood as a paradigm of the best values of the West: strength, humility, knowledge of the land and appreciation for living things, eternal commitment to family, perpetual self-improvement, and-above all-integrity. Bruce is a paradigm for what a man can still be in the 21st century.

Funeral Service will be Sunday, October 14, 2018, 1:30pm at Horan & McConaty Family Chapel, 7577 West 80th Avenue, Arvada.

Family will hold a private interment at Empire Cemetery.

Please share your memories of Bruce and condolences with his family by signing the guestbook below.

Funeral Service: October 14, 2018 1:30 pm

Horan & McConaty - Northwest/Arvada
7577 W. 80th Ave.
Arvada, CO 80003