In Memory

Russell Allen DeNina - Class Of 1981

Russell Allen DeNina

March 6, 1962 - April 22, 2020

(Junior yearbook photo)

 

Russell Allen DeNina, age 58, of Tomball, passed away peacefully in his sleep on the 22nd of of April 2020.

Russell was born in Houston, Texas, on March 6, 1962, to Frank and Ruthie DeNina. He attended Westchester High School, moved to Tomball, and graduated from Tomball High School. In 1985, Russell had one of his grand ideas (he was always thinking) to buy a dump truck and start hauling dirt. With the purchase of a single dump truck, his dream of starting his own business became a reality and RAC Materials was formed. He worked tirelessly everyday for the last 35 years to make it a successful enterprise.

Although he loved working, his true focus has always been the well-being and support of his family. He was a member of the Tomball Chamber of Commerce, was devoted to serving his community, and helping out in any way. 

Russell is survived by his daughter, Tiffany DeNina; his son, Clint Bruney and wife Megan; his parents, Frank and Ruthie DeNina; his brother, Aubrey DeNina; his sisters, Cheryl Nimtz and Lisa Hymel; his grandchildren, Gia Cordova, Niko DeNina, and Braxton Bruney; and his nieces, Lauren, Ashley, and Brooke Hymel, and Hunter Nimtz. Russell was especially fond of his special and loving relationship with Christine Howland. He is also survived by numerous additional relatives and friends.

All of his survivors will miss the sparks Russell always provided and sincerely hope that the angels are prepared for the fireworks.

A Funeral Mass and celebration of life will be held at a later date. Please make donations to the ASPCA.


 

Posted by David Smith - February 1, 2021 - via Facebook page

Sorry to report on the passing of one of our beloved classmates, Russell DeNina, class of 1981. Russell passed away peacefully in his sleep, on 22 April, 2020.

I knew Russell as far back as elementary school. Russell was truly a one-off, a natural-born world shaker.

Russell had a brilliant sense of insight, a genius-level sense of humor, and he was a world-class prankster. I still get a good laugh thinking about some of the things we did.

One memorable prank involved a 500 pack of Black Cat firecrackers and a bunch of rednecks drinking in Club Moonlight--a sleazy honk-tonky bar at the end of an old strip center on Sherwood Forest. We opened the door, tossed in the firecrackers, and began sprinting toward Timberline Street. We were running down the street, all the way past Theo Karalis's house on Target, laughing our asses off while the firecrackers were _still_ exploding.

We returned to the scene about a half hour later to find a couple of cop cars with flashing lights and a comical assortment of highly bewildered drunks stumbling around in front of the door. The door was propped open with a barstool--the tinted glass shattered and cracked--and the club was still filled with a thick cloud of bluish smoke, while Conway Twitty belted out a sad song on the jukebox which made us laugh even harder.

We had a metal shop class together in high school and we both disliked the teacher, Mr. Brown. Russell and I had nicknames for everyone, and we called Mr. Brown "Loaf-a-Boots" because he always wore Florsheim dress boots with a zippers, which Russell and I thought were hilariously queer, particularly in an industrial environment. We disliked Brown so much that we even drew a satirical series of cartoons of him in Mrs. Ruston's art class. The cartoons were parodies of safety rules and featured Brown--wearing a cape, welder's hood, and his trademark loaf-a-boots--performing heroically stupid acts, like using a mig welder on a propane tank. I remember Mrs. Ruston remarking on one of our drawings, "Bizarre. And what is loaf-a-boots?"

Mr. Brown was a real stickler for rules, especially when it came to serious safety issues, like having soft drinks in class after the bell rang. So, one morning, being the brilliant prankster that he was, Russell grabbed the woodshop teacher's Coke. "Watch this," he said, as he put it on the corner of Mr. Brown's desk.

Soon, Brown strolled into class with his usual condescending swagger, and began taking roll call. Suddenly his eyes narrowed as he spotted the offending Coke can. Brown pointed to the Coke and smirked, "Alright! Whose Coke is this?"

No one said a word.

I heard Russell quietly giggle as Brown picked up the Coke, cleared his voice with a hhhh-raaack sound, and then spat some coughed-up Marlboro phlegm right into the can. "Alright," he said, his voice tinged with sarcasm, "Let's see you drink it now!" You should have seen the smug look on his face when he said it. Brown was about halfway through roll call when Mr. Baker, the woodshop teacher, walked in and said, "Hey Brown, you seen my Coke anywhere?" That was priceless, and just a typical day in the world of Russell.

When we were in 6th grade we came up with a brilliant entrepreneurial idea: Selling native Texas mistletoe during the Christmas holidays. We climbed some hackberry trees in our neighborhood, harvested a bunch of mistletoe, and then went door-to-door selling sprigs for $1. We made a huge amount of money in that venture, and nearly everyone in our neighborhood had mistletoe hanging over their doors for Christmas.

Russell was a successful entrepreneur and a member of the Tomball Chamber of Commerce. He founded RAC Materials in 1985, and worked tirelessly to make it a successful enterprise. He was a devoted family man and was always willing to help out the community in any way he could.

Russell is survived by his daughter, Tiffany DeNina; his son, Clint Bruney and wife Megan; his parents, Ruthie and Frank DeNina; his brother, Aubrey DeNina; his sisters, Cheryl Nimtz and Lisa Hymel; his grandchildren, Gia Cordova, Niko DeNina, and Braxton Bruney; and his nieces, Lauren, Ashley, and Brooke Hymel, and Hunter Nimtz.


 

https://www.kleinfh.com/obituary/russell-denina