Area resident Klaus Bjorn Brockmann died Tuesday, June 10, 2014, in Riverside, California. He was 33. The cause of death was a brain injury from a fall caused by a seizure.
Mr. Brockmann was born to Keith Daniel Brockmann and Sara Jane Swift on Nov. 2, 1980, in Castle Rock. He grew up in Parker and Mancos and graduated from Southwest Open School in Cortez in 1999.
An avid hitchhiker, Mr. Brockmann traveled and explored New Zealand, Finland, the Caribbean, Canyonlands of Utah, the Weminuche Wilderness of Southwestern Colorado and many other places.
He spent a lot of time in Durango and the surrounding areas, his mother said.
He explored the United States from the Adirondack Mountains to the Columbia River on foot or via any lucky person who picked him up, according to his family.
He hitchhiked to New York City days after the World Trade Center was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001, wanting to help, according to his family.
Mr. Brockmann was an outdoors enthusiast and enjoyed skiing, rock and ice climbing, snowboarding, sailing and swimming.
He also made aspen furniture and was an outdoor wilderness guide, according to his family.
He had an astonishing gift for spacial reasoning and could memorize a map or nautical chart with one quick study, according to his family: "He realized this gift and was never, in all his travels, lost."
He also was a jokester, a storyteller and an excellent chef, and had profound gratitude for a higher power, according to his family.
"He experienced the world for himself," according to his family. "He made people laugh."
Mr. Brockmann is survived by his father, Keith Daniel Brockmann of Arizona; his mother, Sara Jane Swift and stepfather Thomas Allan Bird of Hesperus; his longtime girlfriend, Beth Johanna Mola, of Mancos; brothers Ezekiel Oak Brockmann of Finland and Zachary Thomas Bird of Northern California; and numerous extended family members.
A potluck celebration of life will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 19, 2014, at Greenmount Cemetery, 900 Cemetery Road, in Durango.
Memorial donations may be made to any alcohol- or drug-rehabilitation program; the Manna Soup Kitchen, 1100 Avenida del Sol; or any homeless shelter.
