Obituary of Bruce Teman

Bruce Edward Teman was born on January 7, 1950 to Don and Elsie Teman in Goodland, Kan. Elsie says it was a difficult birth; he was stubborn from day one. They lived north of Burlington until moving into town in 1952. He left this earth on Tuesday, February 1, 2011, at the age of 61. Bruce’s faith in God was very strong, he accepted the Lord when he was 12 years old. After graduating from Burlington High School in 1968 he went to college in Rangely for a very short time and then joined the Navy. He received his honorable discharge in 1970. Bruce and Lana Lounge were married on June 1, 1975. They were very blessed with 2 children, Shiloh and Kale. Bruce loved to jokingly tell people how lucky Lana was because she had him and all he had was her! He worked various jobs but finally with help from his dad he was able to have his own business cleaning carpets. Bruce enjoyed being his ownboss and took great pride in his work. Classic country music was very much a part of Bruce’s life; he definitely was “country before country was cool”. He remembers sitting for hours in front of his parents’ record player listening to songs of Jim Reeves, Eddie Arnold, Jim Ed Brown and many more. (we think Elsie must have put him in time out a lot!) In his early 20’s Bruce heard Gene Watson on the radio and Gene became a favorite from that moment on. Lana finally convinced Bruce to take dance lessons and once he started he really enjoyed it. They spent as many weekends as they could listening and dancing to local bands or going to hear Lee Sims and The Platte River Band. If they were home listening to music the urge to dance would overcome Bruce and you’d find him dancing with one of the dogs. Bruce was a family man and loved them very much, but he really loved his dogs. As long as anyone can remember he’s always had one or two. We’ve never known anyone who loved to feed the dogs quite like Bruce did, he truly enjoyed watching them eat. Over the years we became convinced that the stray dogs would communicate and say “go to Bruce’s”( the squirrels overheard the conversation, too) He enjoyed having coffee with his buddies, playing pool with Al and he really enjoyed having a drink sitting around the kitchen table playing poker or just telling his stories, again, and again!! He was generous with whatever he could give, whether it be a ride or a dollar. He was honest and witty (sometimes that didn’t go together well). He will be missed by all who knew him. We will always remember Bruce’s response to how are you: “Above average” and telling you goodbye:“glad you got to see me”. He truly is above average now in his place with God and we are all“glad we got to see him” for the time that he was here. Bruce was preceded in death by his father, Donald Henry Teman and his brother Donald “Butch” Teman. He is survived by his mother Elsie, wife Lana, daughter Shiloh Gutierrez and her husband Seth, son Kale Teman and his fiancé Liz Chrzan; special family friend Robert “Uncle Tanker”Grosshans and of course Lili, Runner, Bri, Laci, Chaz, Bruno, and Sugar.