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Bruce Blevins Obituary
Bruce was born and raised in Los Alamos NM to Jan and Dave Blevins. He attended NM Tech where he received a BA in Mathmatics and a Masters in Physics. He earned a Phd in Electrical Engineering from NMSU.
During his long and distinguished career, Bruce designed and built antennas and antenna hats for experimental astrophysics receivers, radars and more. His antennas have flown on many spacecraft, have crash landed on the moon (intentionally) and are currently circling the sun. Bruce, and his business partner founded Antenna Development Corporation nearly fifteen years ago. Designing and building spacecraft antennas for an international clientele.
Bruce had a great sense of humor and a keen intelligence. All his life he enjoyed hiking, mountain and road biking, building things, and teaching anyone who would listen about science. His favorite book was Moby Dick, he read it over and over throughout the years. He loved movies like Mars Attacks, Dr. Strangelove, and Oh Brother Where Art Thou. The last song he wanted to hear was "I'm Checking out of this Heartbreak Hotel."
In the last few years he took great delight in playing with his beloved granddaughters Ruby and Opal.
Bruce was married to Geri Murphy for almost 42 years. He had two wonderful daughters; Jessi Campbell of Albuquerque NM, Joni Murphy of Brooklyn NY and new son in law Rob Callaghan, Joni's husband.
Bruce is survived by his sister Virginia Allen of Longmont, CO, Paul Blevins of Las Cruces NM, and Eric Blevins of W. Pueblo CO. as well as many fine nieces and nephews.
Bruce was a beloved husband, father, brother, grandpa, and friend. He is deeply missed.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Memories and Condolences
for Bruce Blevins
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Virginia Allen
October 3, 2024
I think of Bruce often and especially when my grandson Owen asks constantly for us to give him math problems. He must have gotten his love of math from Bruce and our father. I miss him and feel that he left this earth much too early.
Paul Barela
November 27, 2022
Bristol project we worked on in 2005.
Paul Barela
November 27, 2022
Paul Barela
November 27, 2022
One of his research projects and friend.
Paul Barela
November 27, 2022
Great mind.
Virginia Allen
October 5, 2021
I miss Bruce most every day but I especially grieve that he is not here to see his grand daughters grow up and to be with his whole family. I know he would be fighting the good political fight as well as things are even crazier now than ever before.
Tom Greenling
October 17, 2019
I remember Bruce as a friend and business partner who was always willing to help. I always thought he was one of the most knowledgeable people I knew and will miss the interesting discussions we had trying to figure out some of the problems we encountered as well as some of the crazy things we had to do to get things to work.
I wish we could have had more time on the adventure we started. Rest in peace.
Jeffrey White
October 16, 2019
Bruce was a key friend of my brothers and myself from grade school through high school. Looking back, two facets of Bruce's personality stick out in my mind.
The first is that he was remarkably uninterested in the probability of a project being successful:
He tried to go from raw potatoes to vodka in one day: no time for fermentation, but he enjoyed assembling the still from Pyrex lab-ware.
Making use of a glass toroid (doughnut) and some deuterium acquired from LASL's "Salvage", he tried to create a magnetic pinch, and hence, fusion in his basement. That failed spectacularly with a loud "Bang!" when a resistor in the power supply exploded.
Inspired by a project in Socorro to generate high voltage by suspending a bare conductor across a large open space, Bruce decided that a fun afternoon activity would be to replicate the effort in a small canyon north of Barranca Mesa. We recycled a long piece of telegraph wire still hanging from trees in Guaje Canyon, and hung it across the head of the canyon. He had ceramic insulators and used nylon cord to anchor the assembly to trees on each side. This would have been maybe 1970, so no nifty instruments for monitoring system performance. I forgot to ask later on if he ever went back to check on the setup, but I think Bruce was more than satisfied with having built something that big. No need to go back.
The second facet is that contrary to the stereotype of techies spending all their time indoors, Bruce loved to get outdoors and explore. My first backpack trip was with Bruce and my brothers to Guaje Canyon, and we made two other trips together as teens.
Bruce had a wonderful, calm outlook on everything he did. The lives of my brothers and I were greatly enriched by having him as a friend, and to say he will be missed falls far short of doing justice to my thoughts and feelings about his passing.
Doug White
October 16, 2019
My favorite Bruce recollection:
My brothers & I grew up around the corner from the Blevins house in a new development. For a long time Bruce was the only boy roughly our age in the neighborhood, and we used to hang out together all the time. Being interested in science & electronics, Bruce, my older brother and I were a regulars at the Los Alamos Laboratory Surplus Yard. This was where the Lab sold (for 35 cents a pound!) all the stuff they no longer needed. For a bunch of technology geeks, it was a wonderful place. Bruce's basement was full of all sorts of gadgets, parts & scientific gear.
One summer when we were in High School we made our weekly Thursday pilgrimage to "Salvage," as it was known. Bruce found & bought a bunch of small white boxes labeled "Cascade Impactors". They had a wind flag sort of arrangement & hung by a chain so they would point a set of metal tubes into a breeze. The air would deposit particles, presumably sorted by size or mass, on four microscope slides. The Lab probably bought them to measure fallout from nuclear tests, but Bruce thought they might make the core of a good science fair project on pollen or some such.
I think my older brother, Nick, was driving us, and we dropped Bruce off at his house on our way home. Bruce's Mom was working in the yard, and ask warily about the arm full of stuff he had purchased, no doubt to be added to the collection in the basement. Bruce proudly announced that he had bought some Cascade Impactors, and she enquired "What do they do?" Without thinking, he replied "They collect dust!" We thought she was going to kill him on the spot....
We are diminished...
Jeffrey White
October 16, 2019
From my brother, Douglas White:
My brothers & I grew up around the corner from the Blevins house in a new development. For a long time Bruce was the only boy roughly our age in the neighborhood, and we used to hang out together all the time. Being interested in science & electronics, Bruce, my older brother and I were a regulars at the Los Alamos Laboratory Surplus Yard. This was where the Lab sold (for 35 cents a pound!) all the stuff they no longer needed. For a bunch of technology geeks, it was a wonderful place. Bruce's basement was full of all sorts of gadgets, parts & scientific gear.
One summer when we were in High School we made our weekly Thursday pilgrimage to "Salvage," as it was known. Bruce found & bought a bunch of small white boxes labeled "Cascade Impactors". They had a wind flag sort of arrangement & hung by a chain so they would point a set of metal tubes into a breeze. The air would deposit particles, presumably sorted by size or mass, on four microscope slides. The Lab probably bought them to measure fallout from nuclear tests, but Bruce thought they might make the core of a good science fair project on pollen or some such.
I think my older brother, Nick, was driving us, and we dropped Bruce off at his house on our way home. Bruce's Mom was working in the yard, and ask warily about the arm full of stuff he had purchased, no doubt to be added to the collection in the basement. Bruce proudly announced that he had bought some Cascade Impactors, and she enquired "What do they do?" Without thinking, he replied "They collect dust!" We thought she was going to kill him on the spot....
October 15, 2019
For a couple of years it was just Bruce and me before my other brothers were born and we had a special bond because of that. He was a good brother to me and I will miss him greatly. He helped me, and my later my daughter with our math homework and I know he was frustrated with me as I just couldn't see the joy he saw in doing math problems! Although we took different paths in life we had a great childhood in common and a love of nature, children and animals. May he rest in peace.
Virginia Blevins Allen
Longmont, CO
James Edgington
October 14, 2019
I worked with Bruce and shared an office with him for several years at the local NASA site. He was a talented engineer, an excellent debater, and a good friend to have. Bruce's friends will miss his attendance at the weekly retired techies luncheons that he helped create. We will not soon forget his wit and humor.
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