Bruce Heleniak

Bruce Gilmore Heleniak, age 81, passed away at The Pearl Memory Care Facility on February 16, 2025. He was born September 29, 1943 to Frank and Helen Heleniak in Minneapolis, MN. After moving to Battle Creek MI at age 16, Bruce graduated from Lakeview High School and then matriculated to became a Purdue Boilermaker majoring in chemical engineering. On May 13, 1967, Bruce met his forever soulmate, Rena Vande Vord, and on their ventures of life together have celebrated 57 years of love, adventures, and God's blessing of 3 wonderful sons. As a Navy ROTC graduate, Bruce served for 3 years on the destroyer, USS Ingersoll, during his 2 tours of West Pac duty during the Vietnam War. Bruce then returned to the classroom and acquired his MBA degree from Western Michigan University. As his son's interests evolved, Bruce used his Eagle Scout Award skills to participate and play a leadership role in their Scouting activities. Bruce loved watching his sons participate in all of their sporting events and was always their #1 fan. He also was extremely proud of being a member of the Rotary Club in Marshalltown, IA, Richland, MI, and a Paul Harris Fellow. Bruce also served in leadership positions at Franklin Federated Church (Franklin, MA) and Living Hope Community Church (Richland, Ml). For a short time Bruce volunteered as a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) for the Kalamazoo County District Court. He cherished spending time with these children who needed the love, security, and advocacy he could give them. Bruce ended his career with Pfizer as a Validation Specialist and prided himself with successfully passing on-site FDA production audits. Bruce and Rena as a couple loved cruising and sailed on 20 ships... exploring all 7 continents of the world. Bruce is survived by his wife; Rena; sons Jeffrey (Rosalyn) of Imperial, PA, Scott (Cathy) of Midlothian, VA, and Steven (Becky) of Coraopolis, PA; grandsons Peyton, Avery, Hunter, and Sullivan as well as a brother Jim Heleniak (San Diego, CA) and a special cousin, David Heleniak (Baltimore, MD). A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date. Online condolences may be left at VirginiaCremate.com