We Remember Mark Bruhn
With deep sadness, University Ministry shares the news that Mark J. Bruhn, Professor of English in Regis College, died at his home in Kittredge, CO on July 23, 2022. He was 60 years old.
Mark is survived by his wife Kelley M. Young of Kittredge; his daughter Dr. Maury Katherine Young Bruhn of Nashville, TN; his son Abiel Barrows Young Bruhn, daughter-in-law Aleksandra (Ola) Kaminska, and his soon-to-be-born granddaughter of Los Angeles, CA; his brothers, Thomas Bruhn of Castle Rock, CO, and Gregory Bruhn and husband Charles Branstool of New York, NY; his sister Karen Bruhn of LaConner, WA; his mother Lois Bruhn of Scottsdale, AZ; and his step-mother Cathy Bruhn of Knoxville, TN.
Mark was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer with metastases to his brain on April 14, 2022, after suffering a seizure in his classroom at Regis. By July 2022, he knew that his cancer was not only inoperable and incurable but also that any treatment to prolong his life would involve invasive and debilitating chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Mark, with the support of his wife, children, and family members, declined these treatments in order to spend the balance of his life at home and at work, autonomous, and at peace.
Here are his life reflections, in his own words:
"I have had thirty-seven years of devoted, loving, and fun-loving marriage, as partners in crime (whether raising children, teaching, socializing, buying and renovating the family snug in Kittredge exactly to our taste, or just hill-sitting on our private acre) with Kelley, and there are many, many more years of our life together that I will miss terribly. My two talented, self-aware, and self-sustaining children, Maury and Abiel, who mean to be good for the world, have been the joy of my life and role models to me in responsibility and social grace, along with my daughter-in-law, Ola, who is a perfect match for my son, especially in their love of movies. I have also been blessed with too many friends to name both near and far who have enriched my life in countless ways. I am forever grateful to all of these people for the love, respect, and joy they have brought me."
"I have enjoyed a great deal of international travel with my family and siblings, to Austria, Canada, England, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, Switzerland, and throughout the United States. I am proud of my teaching and professional work and published writing, including a book on the poet Wordsworth, a co-edited volume on Cognition, Literature, and History, and over three dozen scholarly articles and reviews."
"I have loved hiking, studying literature and cognitive science, promoting English Romantic poetry (especially Wordsworth’s), mentoring students, and the last twelve years volunteering over 1000 hours at Children’s Hospital, where I held babies, read them books, and sang them a selection of non-traditional or little-known lullabies, including Brokedown Palace, Ship of Fools, and We Bid You Goodnight, by the Grateful Dead, and Every Grain of Sand, Oh, Sister, and The Lone Pilgrim, by Bob Dylan."
My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
William Wordsworth, 1802 (1807)
Mark’s last days were bound each to each by natural piety, in the place and with the peace he desired. He has asked that in lieu of flowers please donate to the Wordsworth Trust and promote nature and poetry in every way possible.
For more information on Mark’s scholarship, please visit his website Literature in Mind, as well as his Chester Alter lecture for Regis University in 2014, “Reculer pour mieux sauter: A Leap of Faith in the Liberal Arts”, available on YouTube.
We invite you to join us in remembering Mark and his whole family in your thoughts, intentions, and prayers at this time.
