Brendan Redenius Obituary
Brendan Redenius was a writer, a musician and a dreamer. Kind, caring, forgiving and protective, he was everybody's champion. The only thing he couldn't tolerate was intolerance. From an early age, Brendan's response to any suggestion was "AwwRight! Let's do it," and he enthusiastically pursued whatever project or adventure was being proposed or which he thought up himself. This led to a few impromptu cross-country road trips, including one which began while he and three high school friends were sitting on Flagstaff mountain one day and felt chilly. They were complaining that it wasn't quite warm enough that April and came up with a solution for how to warm up. That was it, off to California, Tijuana and Las Vegas they went, where they were hired on as extras during a filming of "Hearts are Wild, the Coming Home Episode." Brendan was delighted to share that episode with actors Richard Roundtree and Isabel Sanford. The four traveling companions desperately needed the cash for food and gas for the drive home, but when they went to get their pay, they were told to leave their names and addresses and their checks would arrive in a couple of weeks. They managed to call their parents for funding, and sure enough, the checks soon arrived in the mail. Another memorable adventure included picking up three of his Ghost Ranch friends in Kansas, Chicago and Virginia, then driving to New York City for a quick turnaround. The parents learned about it after the crew returned home. One more adventure, to Arizona, was discovered because they brought home leftover Chinese food with the address of a restaurant in Scottsdale on the box. A project he pursued with gusto was the dismantling of his VW Bug, aka "Goatmobile," and having it reassembled in the courtyard of Boulder High. That info is for any of you BHS grads from that era who might still be wondering "who dunnit." He especially loved camping in the high country in Colorado, as well as in Florida and the West Coast, trips to Hawaii with his family, and the summer he spent in Europe after high school. A highlight of his teen years was spending two weeks at Ghost Ranch every summer, where he made several very enduring friendships. He definitely inherited his family's wanderlust. Brendan spent his earliest years in Arlington and McLean, Virginia, before coming to Boulder in 1985. He attended Foothill, Centennial and Boulder High, graduating from September School in 1993. After a year at Colorado State University, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps, and for the rest of his life was enormously and justifiably proud of his service, which had included deployments to the Persian Gulf and Kuwait. He was Crew Chief of his own helicopter, and received a Meritorious Service Citation for airlifting twenty Marines in an emergency situation to a hospital, among other military honors. He served for four years, was honorably discharged, and relocated to Eugene, Oregon. He attended Lane Community College and the University of Oregon, while supporting himself as a bartender. In Eugene, he met and fell in love with Andrea Griffith, and they had a son, Aidan Zachary, in 2001. The relationship lasted only a few years, and eventually Brendan returned to Boulder. He enrolled in Penn State World Campus, taking what jobs he could find to pay for his courses. He reconnected with Kerry Wagner, whom he had known in high school, fell in love again, and they married in 2011, but later divorced. Brendan returned to Eugene in March of this year to be near his son. He died May 5th from blood loss due to internal hemorrhaging. He was preceded in death by his beloved sister, Susie Harvick. He is survived by the joy and light of his life, his son Aidan, Aidan's mother, Andrea, his former wife Kerry, his parents, Mary and Richard Redenius, his three older brothers, his niece and "kid sister"Alyssa Redenius, his life-long best friend Zachary Cohen and his Marine Corps brothers. He formed friendships wherever he went, and once you were Brendan's friend, you were always his friend. It has been so very gratifying to hear from so many friends from so many parts of his life who have shared stories of his kindness, good nature and sense of humor. Inurnment of his ashes will be at Arlington National Cemetery, the date and time to be announced. He was and will always be loved so passionately. Semper Fi, Brendan, may you rest in peace.
Published by The Daily Camera on May 24, 2017.