Glenn Levern Furman

Glenn Furman, 79, died Tuesday, May 31, 2022, at St. Anthony’s Care Center in Waco from Alzheimer’s disease. A private family service will be held on Saturday June 11, at 11:00 a.m. followed by public visitation from 1:00-3:00 p.m. at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey Funeral Home. Officiants will be Rev. Dr. Jeff Smith and Rev. Bryan Patrick. Glenn was born in Raton, New Mexico, and attended school there from elementary through high school, graduating in 1960. He lettered in varsity football and basketball. Glenn attended New Mexico State University, majored in psychology, and graduated in 1966. He was Vice President of the Baptist Student Union, a dormitory resident assistant, and an employee of the Physical Science Laboratory. His future wife, Kay, was also a student at NMSU and they married on February 4, 1967, in Bayard, New Mexico. They moved to New Orleans so Glenn could attend New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, later moving back to New Mexico so Kay could complete her degree at NMSU. He worked briefly for the New Mexico Department of Welfare, and they soon awarded him a stipend to attend Arizona State University, where he completed a Master of Social Work in the spring of 1971. In September 1971, their first child, Kelby Blaine, was born in Farmington, New Mexico. Soon after, Glenn was promoted to Director of the Department of Welfare office in Socorro, New Mexico. After a short stint with the Bureau of Indian Affairs on the Navajo Reservation, he began his career with the Department of Veterans Affairs at Ft. Lyon, Colorado. During their stay in Colorado, Barry Daine and Trista Lyn were born in 1974 and 1976, respectively. Before moving to Waco in 1983, Glenn was with the Department of Veterans Affairs in Santa Barbara, California, Sheridan, Wyoming, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He completed 31 years with the VA as Chief of Social Work Service at the Waco and Temple hospitals, retiring in 2003. Glenn was active in many organizations in Waco, serving on the boards of RSVP and ARC, volunteering for Stand Downs and Friday morning breakfasts with Mission Waco, and as a social worker for Hillcrest Hospice. He was also a HOT Soccer referee, Victim Services rep for the Waco PD, and a CASA volunteer for 10 years. He religiously donated blood platelets at Carter Blood Care and enjoyed many years of taking part in cycling and running events, including riding 100K’s in the Waco Wild West Century races, running annually in the Brazos River Run, and running and medaling in the Kyle Field Ramp Romp in College Station. Glenn was a United Methodist for 50 years and taught children’s Sunday School wherever they were living. He served as Chair of Trustees at Woodway FUMC, was a delegate to Annual Conference for six years and set up for Sunday services for many more years. It was an unusual Sunday when he was not in church, until his health interfered in recent months. Regardless of where they were held, Glenn was also at every recital, concert or sporting event in which his children and grands participated and was always the loudest voice spurring them on. His favorite recreational activity, besides running, cycling, and playing with his grandkids, was doing anything outdoors. There was not a weekend that went by without him planting flowers or trees, or tending to the yard (his yard, and often someone else’s). He also backpacked countless miles through the mountains of the Gila National Forest with Blaine and conquered a 14’er (Mt. Elbert) in Colorado with Trista at the spry age of 71. Glenn was preceded in death by his parents, James L. and Esther G. Furman. He is survived by wife, Kay of Harris Creek; sons, K. Blaine Furman and wife, Shawna, of McGregor, and Dr. Barry Daine Furman and wife, Jennifer, of Rio Rancho, New Mexico; daughter, Trista Lyn Prinzler and husband, Marty, of Thornton, Colorado; grandchildren, Kaylee and Weston Furman, of McGregor, and Peter Orsak, of Thornton, Colorado; and sister, Radona Hodge, of Brighton, Colorado. Memorials may be made to Woodway First United Methodist Church building fund, CASA of McLennan County, or the Alzheimer’s Association of Waco.