Family, friends remember North Berwick man who died in ATV crash: ‘He was always the fearless kid’
Bruce Kennedy was always in search of his next adventure.
His mother, Lisa Kennedy, recalled him through shaky tears as kind and strong. His brother Devyn, who turns 17 in a few weeks, said he was tough, curious and physical.
“Adventurous,” his father, John Kennedy, chimed in with certainty.
“He was inspirational,” Lisa added.
Bruce, 20, of North Berwick, died Aug. 15 in an ATV crash while riding with a friend in rural Piscataquis County.
As friends and family laid him to rest this week, they remembered the lives he touched.
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Bruce lived in an orphanage in China for the first two years of his life until his parents adopted him. They fell in love instantly.
When he was 5, a lifelong limp from a birth defect in his right tibia started to worsen. The child whose family called him the “Energizer Bunny” faced a potentially life-altering procedure when doctors amputated his leg below the knee.
Bruce Kennedy in a family photo with his parents, Lisa and John Kennedy, and his younger brother, Devyn. (Photo courtesy of Lisa Kennedy)
“If anything, it made him faster. He just became stronger after that,” his mom said. “He never wanted anyone to feel sorry for him. He just took it one day at a time.”
As a student at Noble High School, he was a talented wrestler and played football and lacrosse. He was known at school for being able to overcome adversity and having a resilience that never wavered.
It showed up in everything he did. Bruce started wearing cowboy boots shortly before his death — a reflection of his love for country music — but the right one didn’t fit well over his prosthetic. Instead of opting for a different shoe, his mom remembers him cutting the boot down the front and tying a shoelace around his shin so it would stay on.
“He would always find a way to make things work,” she said.
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In his free time, Bruce loved hanging out with his friends and spent a bulk of his summer with them. His father said he enjoyed jumping off bridges into the water, playing basketball and fixing his friends’ trucks.
Bruce Kennedy was a dedicated employee at North Berwick’s CNC Roadway Solutions. (Photo courtesy of CNC Roadway Solutions)
“He was always the fearless kid,” his close friend Evan Thompson said. “If you jumped off a bridge, he’d jump off a bridge.”
Thompson said Bruce spent lots of time at the gym lifting weights. He was so strong that he earned the nickname “Bruce Juice” from his school friends. He’d frequently joke about how much more he could lift than Thompson, even with a prosthetic leg.
His friends and family also remembered him as an extraordinarily helpful person. He was quick to lend a hand to anyone who needed it.
Bruce frequently paired his cowboy boots with a black T-shirt from his old job as a street sweeping machine washer at CNC Roadway Solutions. In a Facebook post, a friend at CNC wrote that Bruce was so dedicated to his job that he kept the shirt on under his gown during his high school graduation, just in case he needed to “help come wash a sweeper or two.”
He’d help Thompson and his family stack firewood and assist his father whenever his log splitter was on the fritz. He had a knack for fixing things.
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His father recalled the hours Bruce spent taking his toys apart as a child. He’d examine each piece, tinkering with them until he understood how they all worked together.
Bruce Kennedy, right, and his brother, Devyn, as children. (Photo courtesy of Lisa Kennedy)
Monday would have been Bruce’s first day of school at York County Community College. He was preparing to pursue a welding career, which his mother said would have been a great fit for him.
She’ll miss his dedication and the softness that showed under his strength.
“Because he had been through so much in such a short time, he had this tough exterior he put out into the world,” Lisa Kennedy said. “But deep down, he had a really big heart.”
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Tagged: north berwick maine, obituary, york county Maine
Isabelle Oss is a community reporter covering Kittery, Berwick, North Berwick, South Berwick, York and Ogunquit. Born and raised in Colorado, she moved to Maine in April 2026. Isabelle holds a master’s. More by Isabelle Oss
