Bret Currie

MADISON - Bret Douglas Currie, age 65, died on July 3, 2024, at Alia Community Care in Madison, Wis.

Funeral services will be held at Schaller Presbyterian Church (Iowa) on Saturday, June 14, 2025, at a time to be determined.  Burial will be at Schaller Cemetery with desserts and drinks to follow in the church fellowship hall.

Born on Jan. 12, 1959, in Ames, Iowa, Bret was the son of James “J.M. or Jim” and Margaret “Peg” (Gilbert) Currie. In April of 1959, the family moved to Schaller, Iowa, where he was confirmed at Schaller Presbyterian Church and graduated from Schaller High School.

A people-person, Bret was fun-loving and trusting. He had incredible people-radar, gravitating to people who were kind, warm, and gentle while adeptly avoiding those who were not.

In school, Bret was active in sports, choir, band, drama, horseback riding, and scouts. Though his favorite sport was wrestling, Bret also played football and baseball and ran track. For his entire adult life, Bret proudly displayed a memory board that his mom made to hold his sports and music medals, ribbons, and H.S. letters. After high school, Bret attended Coe College for a year, majoring in business. He later moved to Topeka, Kan., where he spent most of his adult life.

Bret was a lifelong lover of reading, sports, good food (he was a self-proclaimed bottomless pit), and music. He could name most 70s, 80s, and 90s rock songs within three notes. Even in the final weeks of his journey with dementia, Bret’s hospice volunteer “Dan” noted that Bret could “name that tune” and the artist most of the time. He loved joy rides with the music blaring, often with his go-to band! Yes!

Through adulthood, Bret valued physical fitness and was active in a wide range of activities including skiing (water and snow), tennis, pickleball and biking. Bret was confident that the Minnesota Vikings were the best team of all time, an assertion he ardently defended after his move to Packers country. He enjoyed watching any sport and could often give you details about a favored team’s record, prospects and players.  

He held a number of jobs in his life, from field work to sales to tax accounting. His favorite jobs were at Walmart where he “did every job except for manager.”  He continued his education across the years, obtaining a certification in tax preparation and attending writing classes at Washburn University. His life’s work was writing dozens of articles and a book that shared his life experiences, particularly during his early 20s through late 30s. This unpublished autobiography of his early journey with schizophrenia became an invaluable way for Bret to introduce himself to new people, particularly upon moving in at Atria East in Topeka, Kan., where he lived for nearly a decade before moving to Madison, Wis., to be closer to family.

Bret is preceded in death by his parents, Jim and Peg Currie; along with beloved extended family and friends. Bret is survived by his siblings and their families, Scott Gilbert Currie (Lorna Currie) of Schaller, Iowa, and their children, Michael Currie, Ryan Currie and Parker Currie; Grant James Currie (Cathy Crosby, former wife of Canton, N.Y.) (Kim Fuller, partner) of Barre, Vt., and their daughter, Aoife Currie; and Lynn Margaret Currie (Tracy Warnecke) of Madison, Wis., and their children, Loren Pawelski, Gilbert Pawelski and Ollie Warnecke. He is also fondly remembered by many cousins across the country: close friends, Howard and Paul in Topeka, Kan.; and friends and care providers in Topeka, Kan., and Madison, Wis. Special thanks to Alia Community Care family for their compassionate care during Bret’s final year of life.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Valeo Community Residence Program in Topeka, Kan. (valeocrp.org).

Online condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com.

Gunderson West
Funeral & Cremation Care
7435 University Ave.
(608) 831-6761