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Bruce Stoddard Sr.

  1. Bruce B Stoddard Sr, 78, of Mesa, Arizona, quietly passed away at his home, the morning of July 2, 2021, after a brief battle with cancer. Bruce was born in Lincoln, NE in 1943 and lived most of his life in Sioux City, Iowa, before joining the Army after high school. He was stationed at Ft. Leonardwood, MO during the Vietnam era and met his wife Cheryl at that time, who was also in the Army. Upon leaving the military, he and Cheryl moved back to Sioux City to start their family. In 1972, Bruce moved his family to Madras, OR and began working for Warm Springs Forest Products as a millworker, for 18 years. After his children graduated from high school, he decided to pursue a career that would suit his love for travel. It was at that time he attended schooling and became a travel agent at Juniper Travel, eventually becoming the sole owner of the agency. He enjoyed assisting others with their vacation planning and business needs, but truly loved traveling himself with his wife and good friends, John and Barb Kiser. The 4 of them took many “fam” trips to places near( Hawaii) and far (Cook Islands) His favorite place of all times was the Cook Islands and would share his stories of the experiences that the locals bestowed upon them, with anyone who asked. Once Bruce and Cheryl both retired, they went from part time RV’ing to becoming a full time snowbird in Arizona for the winter. After the winter they spent the remaining months traveling to wherever the RV decided to wander to! After 7 years of living the RV lifestyle, they decided it was time to purchase a permanent home in Mesa, close to their daughter and friends they made during their winter stays. During their travels, he was introduced to geocaching by some friends and quickly found this hobby to fit his needs to go out and explore. His final count of “finds” ( as they are called), was 18, 845. His ultimate goal of 20,000 was missed, due to his illness not allowing him to go out alone. Others offered to assist him ( they would drive and he would “find”) in reaching this goal, but he felt that if he didn’t do it by himself, then he wasn’t going to do it at all. In addition to geocaching, he loved KISS(who knew!!) and attended many concerts with Toni (and 1 with Cheryl, who claimed that was plenty-haha). He was a season ticket holder for NASCAR in Vegas, with Toni, her husband Jim and his brother in law Keith. In his early years, he loved going elk hunting with both Buster and Jim, but most of all, he loved spending time with his wife of 55 years. His wicked sense of humor will be missed by all who knew him. He had always said that his humor would be the last thing to go and that was true. He is survived by his wife Cheryl, daughter Toni(Jim) Hibler and son Buster along with sister Caroline and two nieces and two nephews.

 

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1 Comment To "Bruce Stoddard Sr."

#1 Comment By Dee On July 11, 2021 @ 6:05 pm

Oh, Bruce. You will certainly be missed. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your journey through this life. Your stories were always detailed and funny and heart warming. Thank you for sharing them. We had some really great geocaching experiences; tons of laughter; saw some very interesting places.
You made my life so much better by sharing your wisdom, your thoughts, and your ideas. Sewa will miss the rubs and cookies and cheese – and the chance to share a new baby with you. Hugzzzz, my friend.