Bruce Elliott Bergeson

Bruce Elliott Bergeson

1958-2024

Bruce Elliott Bergeson, lifelong Belen resident, passed away peacefully on Aug. 18, 2024, in his home on Rosedale Circle.

Bruce celebrated his 66th birthday a week earlier, having been born at Belen General Hospital not more than a mile away on Main Street on Aug. 10, 1958.

Bruce was the first of two sons born to Harold and Shirley Bergeson, who had just moved to Belen from Minnesota earlier that year. Bruce matriculated through the Belen school system, graduating from Belen High School in 1976.

He was a strong athlete, who excelled in the 110 yard hurdles and the 440 yard dash. But most notable was his play as defensive end for the football team, earning All State honors his junior year and leading the Belen Eagles to a near perfect record. An unfortunate neck injury during preseason two-a-days his senior year ended his football career and left an indelible mark on him.

After high school, Bruce attended North Dakota State, his father’s alma mater. But two Fargo winters were enough for a young man from New Mexico, whose favorite song at one time was “Sunshine on My Shoulders.”

Bruce returned to Belen and, other than a couple of short stints in California and Nevada, spent the remainder of his life here. Bruce worked several different and varied jobs before returning to school and earning a BA in geology and an MBA from UNM relatively late in life.

He was a brakeman for what is now BNSF for several years. He worked in the Intel wafer fabrication labs in Albuquerque, he drove around the U.S. in an 18-wheeler for a couple of years with Swift Transport. He worked for Belen Parks and Recreation and spent several years in the Valencia County planning and zoning department.

Bruce was a big hearted and sensitive soul behind a gruff exterior. He would snarl at the television during the once ubiquitous Sarah McLaughlin pet adoption commercials — not cynically because he thought they were gratuitous, but because they upset him as he would say, “I can’t save them all.”

He loved animals, music, film and television. Bruce also liked a solid rocking chair and a good pair of headphones so he could “Drift Away” as Dobie Gray put it in another one of his favorite songs.

Bruce had the strength and courage to quit drinking some 30 years ago.

He leaves behind a cat named Stormy; and a little brother named Eric. He also leaves behind two nieces, Kelsey and Haley Bergeson; and a nephew, Lucas Bergeson.

He will be deeply missed.