Former coroner who retired in January died on Friday
When longtime Henderson County Coroner Bruce Farmer retired in December, he said the piece of his job he’d miss most was “helping the people of Henderson County.”
“This is what I’ve always done,” he said then.
Farmer died Friday afternoon following a long illness. He was 71.
It is his “servant’s heart” that many who worked alongside and knew Farmer now remember.
Farmer’s son Charlie told the Hendersonian he wants Henderson County residents to know his father’s deep love and commitment to this county.
“I want them to remember how much he cared about Henderson County and the people of Henderson County and making sure they got the best,” Charlie Farmer said.
Henderson County Attorney Steve Gold, who not only worked alongside him as part of the county government team but also with him as a W.C. Handy Blues and Barbecue Festival volunteer for many years, said, “It’s a sad day. He had a servant’s heart. From his career as a first responder to his service as coroner to the volunteer work he did for several nonprofits, helping others was just what he did.”
Farmer spent his entire career in service to the community. He began in 1974 as an emergency medical technician. Three years later, he also began working for the Henderson Ambulance Service. From 1985 to 1997, and then again from 1998 to 2007, he served as deputy coroner before taking over as coroner.
At the time he announced his retirement, Farmer said he was having internal issues and joked that four different doctors were “picking” at him. He told the fiscal court in a December meeting that if it weren’t for his health, he would continue as coroner. He retired officially in early January and Shelia Patterson took over.
Charlie said the retirement did not come easy for his father. But he saw that he couldn’t be out with his team and his health was holding them back, Charlie said.
“He would still be doing it if he could,” Charlie said.
Henderson District Judge Leslie Newman said Farmer had been close to her family since they were young. She said sometimes he’d be driving by her family’s house and stop to talk with whoever was home—sister, brother, mother or father, it didn’t matter. He liked to talk to people and was always in good humor, she said.
“He never met a stranger,” Newman said. “I think that would be a good description of Bruce.”
One small anecdote Newman remembers occurred during the old Flatboat Days that used to be put on by the Henderson Jaycees. She said National Geographic came to do a piece on the event and quoted Farmer. In the article, the writer described Farmer as a “tree trunk of a man,” Newman said with a laugh.
Later on, Farmer was a part of the Handy Festival from its very early days some 35 years ago. As an EMT then, he always ensured an ambulance was ready to assist and ensured the festival was up on safety matters. Later, he got his wife Bev, son Charlie and daughter Laura involved in the blues festival, so that it was truly a family affair, Newman said.
Additionally, Farmer has three grandchildren. “And he adored every one of them,” Charlie Farmer said.
Newman said at a Handy festival committee meeting this week, organizers learned that Farmer was nearing death.
“There was a solemnity to our meeting as we contemplated a Handy Fest without Bruce,” Newman said, adding that group lost another longtime member, Rex Jewell, a few years ago. Farmer and Jewell were good friends, she said.
Finally, Newman relayed a story about Farmer helping her brother, current Assistant City Manager Buzzy Newman. She said in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic—when there were still a lot of unknowns—Buzzy Newman had contracted it. Family didn’t know how bad it was, but they felt it was very serious.
Off-duty, Farmer put his “own health at risk to pick up Buzzy and take him to the hospital,” Leslie Newman said, adding Farmer walked Buzzy Newman to his car, but it was more like he had to carry him.
Shelby Marable, another friend Farmer grew up with and remained friends with throughout his life, said Farmer was a character. On one trip to watch NASCAR races in Daytona, Fla., Marable said Farmer brought the uniforms of race teams and wore a different one each day they went to the speedway.
Every day, they’d also stop in at a restaurant and Farmer always ordered chicken wings. Invariably, he left with wing sauce spilled down the front of his shirt each day, Marable said.
They also took Farmer’s little minivan, Marable said, and when he told you it was time to go, you’d better get in, because he was taking off.
Marable also remembered Farmer being a part of the rescue team at Evansville’s Thunder on the Ohio hydroplane races. He said one time a driver got injured and needed help, and Farmer sped his blue Sea Ray right up rocky shore in his haste to help.
A friend of his daughter Laura, Mary Buckman spent countless days and nights at the Farmer home growing up. Most days Farmer drove Laura and Buckman to school. Even on days when Laura was sick, he still drove Buckman to school.
“I called him every morning,” she said. “If I didn’t call by a certain time, he would call.”
She agreed with Newman that Farmer never met a stranger. She said that if Farmer didn’t know someone upon entering a room, he knew everything about a person and his or her family by the time he left the room.
“He wants to know how people are and what’s going on in people’s lives,” Buckman said.
She said Farmer’s up in Heaven now getting updates on everyone and their families. She said it’s “a little quieter down here but a lot louder up there.”
Farmer graduated from Henderson City High School in 1971. He briefly attended Western Kentucky University before he started work as an emergency medical technician in Henderson, his son said.
In addition to his time with the coroner’s office, Farmer worked with the hospitals—formerly Community Methodist, then Methodist and now Deaconess Henderson. Charlie said his father was always taking on extra assignments as well as trying to take care of employees he worked with, including the task of grill master at work gatherings.
Charlie watched his father throughout his life and that led him to his own employment as a paramedic with Deaconess.
“I wanted to follow in his footsteps to help the community,” Charlie said.
All those who spoke agreed Farmer’s legacy is one of service to others. Much of it was behind the scenes, Charlie said. He said his father took care of some of the families who didn’t have much money when one of their loved ones died, making sure the deceased received the dignity they deserved.
“He just cared for everybody,” Charlie said. “He truly was a servant to Henderson.”
