My Dear Erica,
You have my and my families' deepest sympathies on the loss of your father.  My Leah had only the kindest things to say about your family.  Your father held special esteem in her eyes and always will.  Her stories of visits to your home and tailgating at the PSU games will live on forever.  He was truly a larger than life person and your family and friends will miss and remember always.
All of my Love,
Peggy Braun (Leah's mom)

Dear Lynn, Jessica and Erica,
I am so sorry for the loss of Russ. He has always been such a kind,wonderful man. A great husband, dad, and friend. He always had a kind word to share. I am here if there is anything I can do, anytime ! Love, Susan Kret

To Jessica and Family,  You have my deepest sympathy.  You are in my prayers at this difficult time.  Sherril Cleveland, Esq.  Rosicki, Rosicki & Associates, P.C.

The entire Calvet family is saddened to hear about the passing of a truly wonderful man.  Our deepest and heartfelt sympathy to each of you.  Anything you should need, anytime, we are here.  Love, The Calvet Family.

I'm having trouble trying to put into words how Terry, Allison and myself feel about the loss of my brother in law Russ. As I sit here trying to dry up my eyes, I'm going to try to write a few of the many loving memories we have of him. To Terry and myself, Russ was like a loving brother. No matter what, he would always be there to talk to us, give advice and help in any way. We were so proud that he was Allison's God Father and Allison knew how lucky she was to have him. Something my mother, who loved him unconditionally, taught me about Russ when I was younger was "if you want to find out the whole story talk to Russ". Russ never sugarcoated or attempted to hide anything. He told it like it was. Although I have infinite good memories of Russ, I would like to share two of them here:
Terry and I had recently bought our house and although I'm somewhat handy, I had no idea what to do with a broken hot water heater so I called Russ at work at 11pm not knowing he was working a double shift, and left a message. A few minutes later he calls me on speaker with his boss at Con Ed present. I describe the problem and I hear his boss tell Russ "it's probably the regulator we have one in the warehouse". With that, Russ shows up at my house at 1am and fixes the heater leaving at 2 after working a double shift.
The whole family was spending the holidays at Donna's house in Denver. Bill, Terry and myself decided to spend the day skiing up in the mountains about 1 1/2 hr drive from Denver. We all had a great day but in the afternoon the weather changed very quickly. By the time we packed up and started home it was a full fledged blizzard. We were in Bill's tiny Alfa Romero cruising in the unplowed left lane of the interstate at about 70mph blowing by all the traffic. Then the car dies. Turns out Bill ripped out his fuel pump. Luckily, we got the car to the shoulder but we had no heat and snow was piling up with white out conditions. So the three of us are sitting there in the car starting to get cold with Bill wondering what to do. A tow truck pulls up to us, Terry and I think "Thank God"......Bill waves the tow truck away. Ten minutes later another truck pulls up to help us.....Bill waves it away. Remember back then we did not have cell phones. We finally ask Bill what is going on and what are we going to do? He decides he is going to walk back to the nearest exit, find a pay phone and have Donna tow us back leaving us in a buried freezing car. As much time passed, the windows were frozen and Terry's back was cramping up and we both were wondering if we were going to get hit by a plow or another vehicle. Luckily, Bill somehow made it back and told us Donna was on her way. As we waited, probably over 3 ours now, I see this large figure emerge from the blowing wind and snow. It seemed like an angle coming out of the clouds. It was Russ and Terry and I knew everything would be ok. While Terry and I were warming ourselves in the other car as Donna and Bill were arguing how to tow the car back to Denver, Russ jumps into the front seat to see how Terry and I were doing. He reaches under the seat and pulls out a bottle of Coniac and tells us he went into "Bill's wine cellar and took this and I think it's very expensive". With that Russ opened it and the 3 of us shared the bottle. Once again. Russ made us feel better with his thoughtfulness and humor. But as Russ can only do, he conveyed 2 important messages to us that day. He was thinking about us and as always, he will be there to help you. And he was also sending a message that if you put someone that he cares about in a very dangerous situation, for whatever reason, your going to pay one way or another!
We will always love you and never forget how you touched our lives.
Rest in peace my brother and until we meet again!
Greg, Terry and Allison Fucci

Lynn, Jessica, Erica & family,

We extend our heartfelt sympathy to all of you at this very sad time.  There are no magical words of consolation at a time like this, only truth can salve the wound and the truth is that Russell was one of the most genuine people that ever graced this earth. Thank you for bringing this wonderful man into our lives and allowing us to share so many happy memories. We will fondly remember him in our hearts and minds until we all reunite once again. Love, Toni, Chris, Craig & Julie

OBITUARY

Russell Thomas Bookstaver

October 30, 1953 – September 19, 2014

Beney Funeral Home

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