Bradley D. Sens

Bradley was born December 15, 1974 in Regina, to loving parents Ralph and Linda Sens. He was a farm boy through and through. Brad attended public school in Grenfell. Keeping up with the Sens tradition, he never really liked school but did push through and graduated in 1994. Brad never needed a guidance councillor; he knew from an early age what he wanted to do. He had his class 1A license when he was still in high school. At first it was local work, hauling grain and livestock. Then he joined the chase for black gold driving oil field trucks in Southeast Saskatchewan. Brad wanted more. He wanted to live out the songs he heard on the radio. As soon as he was old enough to cross the American border he was gone. Now he got to see what looking at the world through a windshield was really like. I remember when he phoned home to his mother all excited, saying he crossed the Chattahoochee River today. He even slowed down and stood up in the cab looking over the side of the bridge, looking for Alan Jackson water skiing in cowboy boots. Those brilliant green eyes of his have seen the northern lights so close you swear you could touch them. He felt the heat and humidity of the Gulf of Mexico and watched the sunrise on the Atlantic Ocean and the sunset on the Pacific. He criss-crossed the flyover states and chained up to climb the Rockies.

Brad got married in 2003 and settled in the town of Redvers, driving oil field trucks in Saskatchewan and Manitoba for close to 20 years. His crowning achievement was being there and watching Brittany, Jordan and Austin grow up. When the oil patch started to crash, Brad told me he wasn’t going to fist fight for limited work. He made one phone call and was back on the road hauling fertilizer through western Canada and Northern States. When the covid lockdowns started he kept trucking until the border was shut down. At that point, he moved back to Grenfell and drove gravel truck and hauled heavy equipment.

In the late fall of 2022 Brad’s health started to deteriorate and Brad was diagnosed cancer. After a couple rounds of chemotherapy and radiation, Brad moved back into the farmhouse that he was raised in. He was feeling good. Retracing footsteps through the pastures and alongside the creek he made as a child. The sound of absolutely nothing made him smile. Coyotes howling in the distance and frogs croaking in the creek seemed to rejuvenate him. Unfortunately, in June, the cancer came back with a vengeance.

In the summer of 2021 Brad met Cryssi Miller and they became engaged in Oct of that year. Knowing that Brad’s life on this earth may not be long, they had a symbolic tying of the knot ceremony in April of 2023.

Brad was predeceased by his grandparents: Jake and Mary Sens, John and Elma Markwart; his parents Ralph and Linda Sens and an infant sister.

Left to mourn the loss are Brad’s stepchildren: Brittany (Kelsey), Jordan (Savannah) and Austin; his grandchildren: Adley and Maverick; his fiance Cryssi Miller; brother Ricky (Kimberley); sister Rhonda; niece Emily and nephews William and John; numerous aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and fellow truck drivers.

A heartfelt thank you to Dr. Ghanbari and staff at the Esterhazy Hospital, the staff at the Melville Hospital and finally the men and women in the Broadview Hospital where Brad spent his last weeks of life.

Brads’ wish was for those of you who wish to honor him, to please donate to the Broadview Hospital Trust Account, Box 100, Broadview, SK S0G 0K0 (put in memo line ‘Gardens’).

In the logbook called life, Bradley Sens logged off duty one last time at 3:18 p.m. on July 21, 2023.

In the words of Red Sovine, “May God ride with you, 10 – 4 and goodbye.”

The graveside service was held in St. Joseph’s Riverside Cemetery, Grenfell District, Saskatchewan on Saturday, September 2, 2023 at 2:00 p.m. The GPS location for the Cemetery is 50°34'16.5"N 103°01'43.3"W. Following the graveside, everyone was welcome to join the family for a barbeque at Crocus Hill, Sens Family Farm.