SIUSLAW NEWS | SATURDAY, AUGUST 18, 2018 | 5A
he would be out in the water.
Early on, we got a little row boat,
Bruce’s Father
and went out on a little lake. I had to
Bruce was a water person from day watch him because he was almost in
one. We lived very close to Lake Erie, the water himself after the fish.
and there was water everywhere. He
He had his own mindset. He would
scared me half to death half the time, do whatever it is he felt he wanted to
because if I didn’t have a hold of him, do and felt what was right, and some-
FOR BRUCE from page 1A
Need A Haircut?
Stop by and meet
Dwight Montgomery
Dwight has over 40 years experience
in cutting hair
Hours: Mon - Sat 8-4
Lisa’s Kingwood Barbershop
1660 Kingwood • 541-902-9074
Buying or Selling? I can help.
Brian Jagoe
Principal Broker
541 999-1314
82864 S Canary Rd – Location, Location! 40
acres of land, approx 13 miles down South Ca-
nary. How much more privacy can you get? Build
your dream home here and get all the views you
can ask for; ocean, lake and mountain. $175,000.
#2181-13278114
1749 Highway 101 • 541-997-1200
Watch
“In Search of the Lord’s Way”
Sunday, 7:30 AM
KMTR Cable Channel 12
Western Lane Translator Channel 16.2
Then visit the
Florence church of Christ
1833 Tamarack
Florence, Oregon
and experience the joy and simplicity of
pre-denominational New Testament Worship. (Romans 16:16)
Bible Study: Sunday, 10:00 am
Worship: Sunday, 11:00 am
www.churchofchristfl orence.org
times, not always as wise as I thought
he might be.
He was still a teenager, about junior
college age, and it was the height of the
hippie movement.
Bruce, all of a sudden, calls me up
and says, “Dad, I’ve decided to join the
army.”
I said, “Join the army, Bruce? You
gotta be kidding. If you’re going to
join something, join the Coast Guard
or the Navy. You want to wind up in a
rice paddy in Vietnam?”
He said, “No dad, I got it figured
out. I know they’re going to have an
examination to start out, and I learned
that if you score high enough in the
exam, you get to choose where you go.
Only dumb people enlist in the Army,
so I’m going to be in the top one per-
cent.”
Sure enough, he got in the one per-
cent and got to be a psychiatric assis-
tant in the Army.
I got a call from Bruce early on. He
said, “Dad, the Army stinks, I’m going
to resign.”
I said, “Lots of luck, Bruce.”
A couple of months later, he calls
me and says, “Dad, they ordered me
to go to Kansas City to police the ri-
oters and anti-Vietnam protestors. I’ll
be damned if I’m going to play pig for
the US Army.”
So, he refused to go, and he got
busted down to KP duty for the rest of
his term. He was told that he would get
a dishonorable discharge and lose all
of his benefits. They fought the army
and won the case.
If he hadn’t have done that, he
would not have had his Army benefits
and would be able to come to this part
of the country and get his education
degree and become a teacher.
I’m just so proud of him.
People say that he was lucky. In-
deed, I was always very appreciative of
the luck that Bruce had.
But the greatest stroke of luck that
Bruce encountered in his entire life
was encountering and getting to love
his wife Sandra.
Nolan Huntington
He was an avid fisherman, and just
passionate about it. If it wasn’t some
kind of fishing that challenged Bruce,
he didn’t really seem too interested in
it. He would find places that nobody
knew where to fish.
Once, were going up the coast,
looking for near-shore halibut. We
went up by sea lion caves.
Bruce was watching a whale, out
in the distance. We’ve seen whales
out there, humpbacks, gray whales
and orcas. This one was different. It
would blow, and we would see it come
up, then go down, up, then down. We
thought it was just a different kind of
whale, just coming towards us. It was
the biggest whale we had ever seen.
When we got in that evening, we
both concluded that it was a blue
whale, the largest creature to ever be
on this earth.
I called Bruce Sunday night, the
night before he died. We would al-
ways call each other, talk about what
we were going to do. I was going to
go tuna fishing. Bruce wasn’t going to
fish tuna; he had already caught all the
tuna he could stand.
I was asking him about his radio.
We could always hear him on his
radio, and the thing about Bruce is,
he was the commentator of the fishing
community here. If there was any-
thing going on, he was always talking
about how many fish he caught, what
the weather is like, how many whales
there are.
But then he’d have to stop and go
pee.
There was never a time when you
were on the ocean and you wouldn’t
get a chuckle with Bruce on the radio.
We’re going to miss that. We’ve really
appreciated all the radio talk, and the
fishing experiences we had.
He was a special person, for sure.
Julia Tousley-Ritt
I taught with Bruce for many years
at the elementary school.
When I first moved to teaching
fourth grade, Bruce was a couple
doors down from me. He came into
my room, and I had put up these
beautiful posters from the U.S. For-
est Service of butterflies and all these
wonderful things.
Bruce came in and said, “You’re
decorating too much! You don’t want
those kids looking up at the walls,
you want them looking at you. That’s
why I don’t decorate my room. I’m
the entertainment.”
And he certainly was.
Way back when, the teachers’
lounge was always a lively place when
Bruce was around.
Bill McKenzie got a big stump and
wrote “Bruce’s Stump” on it because
Bruce had an opinion and a story
about everything. He would go on
and on.
Whether you agreed with Bruce or
not, he was fun to argue with, and he
was fun to agree with.
The kids loved him. He was
unique.
I do want to say that his love of
teaching was wonderful, but he al-
ways thanked Sandra immensely for
letting him retire early, so he could
fish.
Mike, Sandra’s brother
Bruce was a fanatic about every-
thing. He was a fanatic about fishing,
teaching and, a long, long time ago,
he was a fanatic about frisbee.
If you threw a frisbee, Bruce was go-
ing to catch it. That was his only goal.
We’re throwing one day, and I was
like, “Let’s see if you can catch this
one.” I throw one, and I’m watching
Bruce and the frisbee go full speed
toward a building. I’m thinking, “Oh
my God, he will not stop.”
He grabbed that frisbee going full
blast about three feet from the build-
ing. I could see burning rubber on his
shoes as he was trying to stop hitting
the building. He caught the edge of
the window seal, glasses shattered. I
could see blood gushing.
I ran toward him, and he was on
the ground. I thought, “I killed Bruce.
Now my sister is going to kill me.”
I stood over him for a while, and
he finally came to, saying, “I caught
it, didn’t I?”
I said technically, when you hit the
ground, it dropped out of your hand.
That’s the way he was. When you
interacted with Bruce, he was full
speed.
DeAnna Fraizer
He was my PE teacher 20 some
odd years ago. No matter what we
were doing, whether it was dancing
the macarena or going underneath
the big parachute, every day was
something different.
He always had a smile on his face,
and to me, that’s one of the best
things you can do. Have fun.
He loved us, no matter what. Not
everyone always did what he want-
ed us to do, or how he wanted it to
be done, but he didn’t care. As long
as you were trying and having fun,
that’s all that mattered to him.
I loved that every time I saw
him, he still remembered me. Even
though I didn’t see him very often
when I graduated, he still knew my
name and remembered things that
happened when I was in his class.
I’ll miss him.
See FOR BRUCE page 7A
J OIN U S I N W ORSHIP
BAY BERRY CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP
Friday Evenings – 7 p.m. SINGSPIRATION
You are invited to come and sing your favorite Ole Time Gospel songs.
Come and enjoy a time of fellowship & refreshments before we sing.
Bay Berry Square is 1.5 miles north of Fred Meyers’ Store
88906 Highway 101 N, Florence, OR (milepost 185N)
For Info: Jack - 541-999-8278 + Ron - mccrary9483@gmail.com
THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST
OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS
Located at Munsel Lake Road and North Fork Road
Worship Services 10:00 AM Sunday
All are welcome! 541-997-7268
COMMUNITY BAPTIST CHURCH
4590 Hwy. 101, Across from Fred Meyer –- 997-7418
Sunday School, 9:30a.m. – Worship, 10:45
Wed. Prayer - 6:00 p.m. –Wed. Ministries 1-8 Grade 7 p.m.
CROSS ROAD ASSEMBLY OF GOD
Corner of 10th & Maple –997-3533
Wednesday, 7 p.m. - Family Connections
Adult Bible Class, 9:30am on Sundays.
Sunday Services, 9am and 10:45am.
fl orencecrossroad.org • offi ce@fl orencecrossroadag.org
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH - SBC
1935 25th St. – 997-7660 • Pastor, Dr. Marvin Owen
Series “People of the Bible.” on Wednesdays 6 p.m.
A friendly place to worship, vacationers welcome.
Sun.; 11am & 6pm, Sunday school 9:45am.
FLORENCE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
2nd & Ivy – 997-2961 –Non-Denominational
Worship Service: 9:00 am & 10:30 am
Middle School and High School youth groups meet on
Wednesday.
FLORENCE CHURCH OF CHRIST
Pre-Denominational (Romans 16:16)
1833 Tamarack Street (2 blocks east of Hwy. 101 on 18th St.)
Bible Study: Sunday 10 a.m.; Worship: Sunday 11 a.m.
www.churchofchristfl orence.org
FLORENCE CHURCH OF THE NAZARENE
12th and Nopal –997-9020
Worship Service 10:30 a.m.
Saturdays, Mens’ Breakfast @ 8 a.m.
Online Worship Service@ www.fl orencenaz.com
FLORENCE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST
4445 Hwy 101 (South of Fred Meyer) – 997-3951
Worship on Saturday 10:30 A.M.
Adult/Children’s Sabbath School 9:15 A.M.
FLORENCE UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST FELLOWSHIP
87738 Hwy 101 at Heceta Beach Road
RUAUU? All are welcome to explore the answer.
Sunday Worship Service ~ 10:00 a.m.
www.FlorenceUUF.org - (541) 997.2840
FLORENCE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
Worship Services 10:00 a.m. Sunday
Adult Classes at 9am; Children’s Sunday School at 10:30m
Coff ee Fellowship Following Service
2nd & Kingwood • (541) 997-6025
FOURSQUARE CHURCH
1624 Highway 101 (next to A&W) –- 997-6337
Pastor George Pagel – Something for the entire family.
Sun. Services: 10:45 a.m., Wed. Bible Study 7 p.m.
Website:fl orence4square.com
NEW LIFE LUTHERAN CHURCH, E.L.C.A.
21st & Spruce Street – 997-8113
Adult Forum 9 a.m. – Sunday School 10:30 a.m.
Worship services; Sun. 10:30am & Mon. 5:30 pm
Pastor Lori Blake
www.lutheranchurchfl orence.com
Let Paul show you a new car or truck.
Stop by today!
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF THE SIUSLAW
Traditional Worship Service 10:00 a.m. , Reverend Greg Wood
Sunday School and Nursery – Organ and Choir
All Welcome. Come as you are.
3996 N Hwy 101 997-7136
2150 Hwy. 101 • Florence
(541) 997-3475 • 1-800-348-3475
RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS (QUAKERS)
“War is still not the answer.” FCNL
We worship in homes at 11am Sundays
Call 997-4237 or 902-9511 for locations.
RESURRECTION LUTHERAN CHURCH,
L.C.M.S.
Every Sun., Bible Class 9 a.m., Worship Service 10 a.m.
85294 Hwy. 101 S. – 997-8038
DVD of Weekly worship service available.
Pastor Randy Benscoter
ST. ANDREW’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH
2135 19th St. –- 997-6600
8:30am, Tuesdays, Morning Prayer
Sunday Services: 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. - Wed, 11 a.m.
Everyone Welcome – Come walk our Labyrinth.
SAINT MARY, OUR LADY OF THE
DUNES
CATHOLIC CHURCH
Masses: Sat. 5:30 p.m., Sun. 11:00 a.m.
1.5 miles south of river on Hwy 101 – 997-2312
Join Us In Worship
4 lines,
approx 15 words,
$10 a week
4 week Minimum
Deadline
3 p.m. Mondays.
To be included in this directory contact
the Siuslaw News at 997-3441, or drop off
information at 148 Maple St., Old Town, Florence.
Forever
Yours
Timeless style in jewelry design
• Affordable quality
jewelry.
• Vintage, estate, and
pre-owned jewelry.
• Choose from
our incredible
selection of
quality diamonds,
rubies, emeralds,
sapphires, silver,
jade, pearl, coral, and
cameo jewelry.
• Antique Furniture & Collectibles
Ask about our lay-a-way & gift registry plans
Florence Antiques &
Coast Jewelers
1220 Bay Street, #100
Florence, OR 97439
541.997.8104
www.shoppelocal.biz