From BBTown Bomber/Elizabeth Reed's son

[kaz36]

His son Aaron posted this over on Inside Nebraska:

Hello all, this is Bomber's son Aaron. I promised my dad that if anything ever happened to him, I'd come on here and do this so here I am. My dad passed away unexpectedly at home yesterday morning. He's had his share of health issues and we don't know yet exactly what it was but it happened quickly and there was little to no pain. We had just celebrated his 70th birthday last fall.

He wanted me to come here and let you all know what the Husker Message Board community meant to him over the years. I know he met many of you in person and always enjoyed meeting fellow Husker fans outside of the Nebraska borders. And I know he became legitimate friends with many he found on here in real life. I don't know any of you (I think) but I've heard your call signs hundreds of times in reference to different posts or discussions that caught his eye. I'll even admit to lurking under his name here and there as well but don't tell the mods that.

For those of you who don't know, Bomber's real name was Denny Finken and he lived out in Scottsbluff with his bride Mary Ann. He grew up a farm boy just over the Cockeye border just north of Council Bluffs. He and his brother Dave were both state champion wrestlers for Tri-Center and he went to UNL on a wrestling scholarship back in the early 70s. He moved out to Scottsbluff shortly after and worked as a chemical salesman traveling the state for several years. However, he's been a financial advisor/insurance guy for the past 30ish years running his own financial services practice. He loved nothing more than educating people on financial literacy and working with them to help better their lives, even if they thought whole life insurance was evil.

There are 5 of us kids (and 9 grandkids) and we're spread from Des Moines to Denver and all the way down to Austin so they spent a ton of time traveling to visit us and other friends and family. Rarely did a few weeks go by when they weren't on the road somewhere. And wherever they were, they always made it a point to watch all the Huskers sports. There is nothing more that he loved than pulling into a small town, finding a dive bar with cold beer (no foam) and watching Husker volleyball, baseball, football or whatever. He even had a cherry red Silverado pickup to do all that travelling with a personalized "BBTB4NU" on the license plate. When he wasn't dressed for work meetings, his wardrobe almost entirely consisted of Husker t-shirts. He even stuck with some of the clever Frost ones after that debacle. I'm sad he won't get to see Rhule restore the program to relevance, Bolt get that team to Omaha and Cook add one more title to the trophy case.

I can't thank this community enough for what it brought to his life as much as we rolled his eyes when he quoted his beloved message board. Please also share this with The Platinum Board as I don't have his login stuff for that. I briefly spoke with @Husker Priapism yesterday when he called his cell yesterday. I shared the unfortunate news and saw he started the Memorial Fund. I'm at a loss for the generosity of this group and really appreciate all the thoughts and prayers. I don't know how any of that works but I'll try and get in touch with him down the road at some point.

I don't really know what else to say. I'll be sure to link the obituary and share the funeral details once we've got that planned. We're still trying to figure stuff out since this happened so suddenly. Just make sure to hug your love ones and make sure your close relatives know the passcode to your phone and email. I hope my paragraph usage and spelling would live up to his standards. My big regret in this message is that I didn't get a chance to use "yore". Thank you and God bless.

 

[Fitzjess21]

His sons not lying about always bringing up message board personalities. When I would stop in to see Denny about insurance our conversation always led to RSS or Husker talk. A couple words him and I had an argument over my bbq and we really haven't spoken much since.

I was just telling my wife how I needed to go and talk to him about a letter we got in the mail and now I wish I had....

I really happy his son was able to do this and his family knows about the fund. I was going to text MaryAnn later today about it.

 

[...TrueColors...]

I thought I’d share this story…

So the last time I got to hang out with Denny was earlier this year at DJ’s Dugout. The crazy thing is I almost didn’t go as I was going to be later than I expected. Nevertheless, Bomber told me that he’d be at DJ’s a long time that particular day. I’m kind of upset I missed @HCFord1 ! But I was able to visit with @BIGSTICK67 , @LoudHogRider , and of course @Jim14510 .

Yesterday, I was flipping through the group message that Denny had started after we’d all gone our separate ways that night. He of course insisted we take several pictures.

My 7 year old was looking over my shoulder as I did it. He asked me what pictures I was looking at and I explained to him which ones they were. I then told him that the guy who you conned into paying for your round of Golden Tee and Dr Pepper that night passed away today. He was silent for a second and said “I liked hanging out with him that night. Maybe Jesus just decided it was His turn to hang out with him now.”

I thought to myself “You’re damn right son.”

My son then decided to nab my phone and tell me he had the perfect song to play….

And it was this one….

 

[betsch]

This makes me sad. I always wanted to meet the guy. RIP.

 

[God is a Husker]

My wife refers to you all as my “imaginary friends” cuz I’ve met very few of you in real life and yet I have talked with some of you several times a week, every week for the past decade (no hyperbole for the My Little Pony Gang).


I told my wife about @Elizabeth Reed passing and I was just as sad as if I lost a friend “in real life”.

He was always with me with 308 ride or die posts/threads and I’m gonna miss him greatly.


That’s enough girl talk, time to push these emotions deep down, drink a domestic beer and post some Run the Damn Ball memes like a good Western Nubland boy should.

 

[bbenson67]

My wife refers to you all as my “imaginary friends” cuz I’ve met very few of you in real life and yet I have talked with some of you several times a week, every week for the past decade (no hyperbole for the My Little Pony Gang).


I told my wife about @Elizabeth Reed passing and I was just as sad as if I lost a friend “in real life”.

He was always with me with 308 ride or die posts/threads and I’m gonna miss him greatly.


That’s enough girl talk, time to push these emotions deep down, drink a domestic beer and post some Run the Damn Ball memes like a good Western Nubland boy should.

You articulated my feelings perfectly. I'm so glad I took the risk to actually reach out and meet IRL my "imaginary friends" starting with bamaman1977 in Huntsville, AL and the crew of @HCFord1, @LoudHogRider, @Husker Priapism in Omaha and of course Denny. It does make the loss more poignant though, but I'm so glad I got to meet him even for a brief time.