Ron Bookman, who died Saturday at age 52, kept a deft balance between his aggressive career as an oil and gas consultant and his consuming avocation as a 20-year veteran of Evergreen’s estimable Alpine Rescue Team.
An Eagle Scout by age 16, he intended to become a U.S. Forest Service ranger when he entered Colorado State University. As government funding cuts decimated jobs in his chosen field, Bookman changed his focus.
He became a petroleum land man, scouting oil and gas exploration sites. The job required driving and hiking countless hours in the brambly, craggy Western backcountry – almost like being a ranger, but with better pay. Bookman was among the few land men whose career weathered the 1980s energy bust.
“He stayed with it at times when other colleagues were getting laid off left and right,” said longtime friend Charley Shimanski, who joined Alpine Rescue Team on the same June day as Bookman and directed scores of rescue missions with him.
“Ron had a real work-hard, play-hard mentality. He got his relaxation out of physical activity, either doing his own thing – biking, fly-fishing, backcountry skiing – and helping other people.”
Upon joining Alpine Rescue Team in 1985, Bookman’s rescue pager became a permanent attachment – at his bedside, in his pocket on bicycle trips and in oil-company meetings. If the pager beeped during a conference, Bookman dropped everything to run for the Ford pickup he kept stocked with blankets, ropes, climbing gear and the other detritus of rescue work.
At rescue headquarters, leaders noted how Bookman’s cool demeanor focused others buzzing with ideas and adrenaline. Four years after joining the team, he was elected president.
He served a three-year term, supervising 80 to 90 rescues a year and completing construction of the team’s new El Rancho headquarters, volunteering more than 1,000 hours a year.
Following his daughter’s birth, Bookman cut back on his rescue work, which strained two marriages that ended in divorce. He maintained a civil relationship with Mary Dunmire, his daughter’s mother. This year, he planned to marry Robin Hill, who was bicycling with him near Pine on the day he abruptly lost consciousness, broke his neck and died.
The Flight for Life helicopter that responded to Hill’s call for help was diverted from its initial destination: an Alpine Rescue Team training exercise. The training leader was Bookman’s friend Shimanski.
A service will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at Lookout Mountain Community Church in Golden. The family suggests memorial contributions to the Jill Tayler Bookman Education Fund, c/o Evergreen National Bank, P.O. Box 2020, Evergreen, CO 80437.
Survivors include daughter Jill Tayler Bookman of Evergreen and Colorado Springs; parents Jack and Helen Bookman; brother Gary Bookman of Colorado Springs; and sister Karen Bookman of Colorado Springs.
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reached at 303-820-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com.
