base428 1 #1 Posted February 22, 2022 Bruce Kramer (BASE #509) passed away in his sleep last Friday. See below for visitation and funeral details. Bruce was my best friend and we jumped together around the world since the early 1990's. His accuracy was second to none and he was always there if you needed help (ie. chopping a tree down in a National Park with an axe for an hour to get Joe Caulfield's canopy down). He is survived by his son, 18-year old Lucas Kramer, as well as his parents (Donna and Big Dan) and a sister (Tara). My favorite Bruce story goes way back to 1998 during the IPBC BASE jumping competition in Moab, Utah. Bruce, Dave Shipman, Joe Weber, and I just met, so we decided to come together as "Team Body Bag" for this event. We were all new to BASE competitions and we never expected to do well at the event, especially with BASE legends like Harry Parker, Dennis McGlynn, and those damn "Spiders from Mars" leading the way. We were extremely shocked to be sitting in 1st place with only one jumper left to seal the deal and secure extreme glory for our team. That last last jumper was Bruce. We were already the "dream team" that no one ever heard of and Bruce simply had to jump, open, and land near the target. Bruce was better at accuracy than everyone on the team, so Team Body Bag was already figuring out how we would celebrate this most glorious win. Then Bruce jumped, snapped a brake line, and nearly slammed into Tombstone wall after a 180. In his words, Bruce's "cat-like reflexes" allowed him to stay alive and not scrape the wall. Bruce landed far from the target unhurt, dropping our dream team into 3rd place. Glory was lost. Bruce and I laughed about our 3rd place position for decades, joking about all the Red Bull sponsorships, TV gigs, and millions of dollars that we almost had. Visitation: Saturday, February 26, 2022 from 3-5pm at Barkes, Weaver, & Glick Funeral Home located at 1029 Washington Street, Columbus, IN 47201 (Directions) Funeral Service: To immediately follow the visitation from 5-6pm Reception: To immediately follow the funeral from 6pm-?. This location is three blocks South at Breedan Inc., 700 Washington Street, Columbus, IN. (Directions) In lieu of flowers, Donna Kramer (Bruce's mom) is requesting that everyone bring pictures of Bruce to the service, or make a donation to Bruce's son Lucas Stafford Kramer. I'll try to update this post with more info soon. There will be an opportunity for everyone to share any memorable BASE 509 stories at the funeral and celebrate his amazing life. Leave a message for Bruce and his family. If anyone is wondering, I spoke with Bruce for more than an hour recently and he told me to not be sad when he's gone. He was in and out of the hospital due to heart issues. He acknowledged that he led an amazing life. 13GRAND_0001_Bruce_Kramer_rockstar.tif 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
danornan 64 #2 February 23, 2022 I didn't know Bruce but really appreciated your tribute and pictures. Sounds like a good friend and wonderful person. My condolences... 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
base428 1 #3 February 23, 2022 All services for Bruce are in Columbus, IN rather than Columbus, OH. Muscle memory mistake. It would be great if a moderator could fix this in my original post above and delete this post as I can't make changes. Thanks. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wmw999 2,121 #4 February 23, 2022 Done. But I’m leaving your post in and adding this one so that people who saw it and check for updates see the change. Wendy P. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mojo71 0 #5 April 3, 2022 Happy Birthday Bruce. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
