Bryce Henry Golden

Bryce Henry Golden

March 15, 1979 – Sept. 16, 2019

Bryce Henry Golden, 40, died Sept. 16, 2019 in Homer, Alaska following five months of cancer treatment.

A memorial will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28 at the Bidarka Inn Glacierview Room in Homer.

Bryce was born March 15, 1979 in Provo, Utah. He moved to Anchorage, Alaska in 2001 and to Homer in 2017.

At 16, Bryce started working in direct care for developmentally disabled adults and went on to work in elder care and with troubled teens before earning a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from University of Alaska Anchorage in 2010 and a Master of Science in counseling psychology from Alaska Pacific University in 2016. During his grad program, he volunteered with Identity, Inc. Behavioral health in the LGBTQ community was a cause close to his heart.

Bryce was a therapist at South Peninsula Behavioral Health Services (The Center). His specialties included healing from trauma, schema therapy, and EMDR. In Anchorage, he worked at North Star Behavioral Health, Alaska Child and Family, Providence Behavioral Health Services, and as a stay-at-home dad. Over his 24-year career he served diverse populations, including immigrants, juvenile offenders, and those with dementia.

Those who knew Bryce best will remember his playfulness, discernment, honesty, and radically compassionate empathy and acceptance. Everyone loved and felt at ease with Bryce, but he was especially gifted at holding space for people in distress. He found great joy in being fully present with others and understanding their perspectives, especially when their perspectives challenged his own. Bryce had no interest in authority or status. He championed the downtrodden and delighted in cage-rattlers and pot-stirrers.

A Boy Scout who loved fishing and camping, Bryce was happiest under an open sky, gathered with his loved ones and dogs around a roaring fire. He believed green spaces are essential and loved exploring the beaches and mountains of Alaska, as well as the deserts and canyons of Utah.

He was an avid reader, Dungeons and Dragons fan, horror snob, and total fear junkie. He never met a rickety roller coaster, twisting waterslide, steep, sharp drop, or explosive that he didn’t like.

Tall and lean, Bryce was a graceful athlete. He was heaven on skates and enjoyed hockey, but basketball and baseball were close seconds.

He had a profound love of philosophy, film and food, but music fed his soul, especially rock and metal. He explored artists and genres from around the world.

Bryce is survived by his wife of 20 years, Jessica Ramsey Golden; their daughters Esme and Ilsa; and in Utah, his mother, (Estella) Margie Golden; his siblings Bryant and Blake Golden, Amy Greenhlagh, and Allison Leonard; and his dogs, Ambrose and Oscar, as well as countless friends.

He was preceded in death by his father, Mitch Golden.

In lieu of flowers, send donations in Bryce’s honor to the Homer Foundation (3733 Ben Walters Ln # 4, Homer, AK 99603) Memo: Bryce Golden Fund for Behavioral Health.

Family statement: Wherever Bryce has moved on to, we know he is still and always “Reaching out to embrace the random. Reaching out to embrace whatever may come.” Probably in a very silly accent.

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