Haines friends and family will gather privately to celebrate the life of local guide and carpenter Jeff Burruss, according to stepbrother Kyle Grimes. Burruss, 40, died in a mid-air plane collision near Russian Mission on Aug. 31. He was a passenger in a Piper Super Cub on his way to a hunting camp where he was guiding.

He worked for Renfro's Alaskan Adventures in Bethel as a hunting and fishing guide, and also headed up the company's construction crew. 

"Being a guide was his all-time dream, and he was living his dream," Grimes said. "He was doing what he loved. How many people can say that?" 

"Jeff was an all-around good guy," whom will be missed by his Haines friends, Nick Oddo said.  "He was always smiling, willing to lend a hand or tools or both, very adventurous. He was one of the guys I first met in Haines and soon after we would fish together often. He knew the sweet fishing spots, and I never left empty handed."

Jeffrey Thomas Burruss was born in Snohomish, Wash., on Sept. 30, 1975 to commercial painter Fred Burruss and Tomme Bleisteiner, who worked in real estate. He caught the outdoor bug early, thanks to his father, an avid sportsman. "He'd get him up at four in the morning to fish and duck hunt," Grimes said.  Burruss had to work extra hard to be comfortable in the woods and rivers because he was legally blind. Grimes said he compensated for it with sheer determination and corrective lenses. 

After high school, Burruss moved to San Jose and worked as a painter. In 2002, he and Grimes came to Alaska, where Burruss found work on Prince of Wales Island logging and in construction, and where he hunted and fished. He joined Grimes, wife Celeste, and their young family in Haines in 2005. He ran a trap line, and worked for Stickler Construction and Dark Horse Construction seasonally. 

Jim Stickler said, " He was so easy to make happy. If he had a day off a week to spend outdoors, he was happy all week. Jeff was one of those positive people who rub off on you. He was an attitude booster."

Burruss spent half a dozen seasons with Renfro's as an apprentice and guide in Western Alaska guiding for trophy bear, moose, caribou, and Dahl sheep hunters. In the winter, he guided hunts in Texas for Barbary sheep, Grimes said. "Jeff was a very busy guy. He lived on the edge, all the time. He was full throttle every day."

Burruss owned a home in Haines, but preferred to rent it and stay with the Grimes family when he was in town. He also kept an apartment in Bethel. He never married, but had several long-term relationships, and above all doted on his twelve-year-old pit bull, Bacardi. "He loved his dog, and he loved his friends. Jeff had a huge heart," Kyle Grimes said.

Jeff Burruss leaves Bacardi, his parents Fred Burruss of Prince of Wales and Tomme Bleisteiner of Snohomish County; brothers Rick and Cliff Burruss of Snohomish County; stepbrother Kyle Grimes in Haines, and three nieces and nephews.