As the year 2023 draws to a close, kindly take a moment to remember an NFBC member who passed on last month. Bruce Jansen’s club membership number was 80--yes, double digits, so he was close to being a founding member of the club. I knew Bruce since I joined the club in 1999 and we rode many many miles together. Of course by that time, Bruce already had a big head start on total mileage. Officially, he logged over 53,000 lifetime miles with the club. Personally, he logged thousands more. He just LOVED to ride, and he loved sharing his passion with other riders. Club Historian Jim Vozga told me that before my time in the club, Bruce was the organizer of some of the first club trips, notably to the Burlington, Vermont area and to the Seagull Century. Bruce told me himself about organizing a couple of club trips to Cape Cod back in the day. He was a car enthusiast and even as a kid could identify every car which rolled by his front porch. Later in life it was Bruce’s hobby to buy, collect and sell all kinds of cars. Bruce’s dad owned Jansen Saddlery on Broadway in Buffalo, which eventually branched out into making leather upholstery for high-end cars, so Bruce was exposed to lots of fancy automobiles as a kid. He also loved and owned LOTS of model cars and trains, and when I knew him, had impressive collections of both.

Bruce was always up for a party or a road trip or an adventure. I took him on his first white water paddling experience on the Genesee River. Here’s hoping he’s having another adventure on the other side--we’ll miss you Bruce.

Liz Skelton