Bruce Hume Blakey

His devotion to his family, extraordinary generosity, tireless determination and innovative

spirit will forever be remembered by his loved ones and friends. Bruce was born on

August 26, 1932 in Fargo, North Dakota to Stanley and Annabelle Blakey, one of 12

children. In 1944 the family packed up and moved to Seattle. That first summer he was

asked by a neighbor to help his son take a fishing boat to Alaska. Bruce had no

experience, and the son was a boozing captain on a battered old boat. It became clear

as the two of them made their way north the captain was in no shape to navigate.

Armed with nothing but dauntless determination Bruce took over the helm and

maneuvered the fishing boat through rough seas and narrow channels, dragging the

captain out of bars and taverns at stops along the way until they arrived safely in

Alaska. He was 12 years old. His “I can do anything” attitude was the cornerstone of

Bruce’s character and led to his many accomplishments.

Bruce married his first wife Birdine Zabel in 1953. They moved to San Louis Obispo

where he was stationed during the Korean War and they started their family with the

birth of their daughter Diane in December 1953. Within a year, after concluding his

military service, they moved back to Seattle and Bruce began working at Boeing as the

youngest purchasing supervisor ever hired. Their son Greg was born in 1955, followed

by three more daughters, Glenda in 1957, Tammy in 1959 and Leslie in 1961. When his

eldest daughter Diane was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 1963, heart broken, Bruce

became determined to fill her life and his other children’s lives with great experiences.

Bruce took his young family camping all over the Pacific Northwest, boating in the San

Juans, fishing for salmon, downhill skiing and even taught his kids how to pan for gold.

Bruce moved on from Boeing to work for Honeywell, where he trail-blazed projects with

ingenious innovations. Honeywell then asked him to work on a tube based sonar project

and Bruce tinkered instead with a solid state, tubeless sonar. He spent months

developing the idea with a laser focus. When he presented the concept to his superiors,

they dismissed it and told him to “quit wasting time.” Never one to give up, he flew to

Minneapolis to present it to Honeywell’s CEO, but he also was not interested. Bruce

saw potential, so he quit Honeywell and with two engineers, Ken Sublett and Jesse

Brinkerhoff, to invent the first solid state tubeless sonar. In 1965 he started the company

Western Marine Electronics (Wesmar) to market the sonar. The new sonar concept

changed commercial fishing forever, and the founding of Wesmar was one of his

greatest lifetime achievements. The company is an amazing story of technology and

progressive innovation as Wesmar went on to become a world leader in acoustical

sonar design. In 1968 Wesmar received the President’s E Award for Export Excellence

for its successful exporting to global markets.

After his daughter Diane’s death in 1973, Bruce and Birdine divorced. In 1983 he

married his soulmate Cheryl, who was the ballast and partner in the wake of his creative

genius. Over the years, as Cheryl worked tirelessly beside him, the company expanded

and went on to develop industrial level monitors, ultrasound for veterinary medicine, and

military contracts for underwater mine search and recovery. Bruce also designed gyropowered

roll fin boat stabilizers, bow thrusters, and the first color radar.

In 1983 while continuing to steer and manage Wesmar, Bruce started a new company:

Snopac Products. He bought a mothballed military ship and converted it to process

salmon in Bristol Bay at a time when floating processors were rare in the predominantly

land-based salmon operations. Once again, he spearheaded a shift in an industry

resistant to change. Other companies quickly followed suit, adding floating processing

ships to their business plan.

Bruce Blakey was a man of ideas and a multitude of interests. In 1993 he bought a

260,000 acre ranch from a German princess in the Chilcotin Valley in British Columbia,

Canada. He’d never ranched before, but he tackled the project with gusto improving

Alexis Creek Ranch by clearing the fields, installing pivots and building cattle

enclosures. Much of this was with the help of his children and grandchildren. Great

memories were made working together as a family, often times horse back riding into

the back country, branding cattle and operating heavy machinery. Alexis Creek

eventually supported over 4,000 head of cattle.

It wasn’t all work in Bruce’s life, he learned to scuba dive, fly an airplane and helicopter

ski. He travelled the world learning about other cultures and he read constantly, history

being his favorite subject.

Bruce left a remarkable legacy. He believed he could do the impossible, and he often

did. Father, pilot, fisherman, skier, engineer, inventor, rancher, entrepreneur, were only a

few of the many roles he tackled and accomplished. He changed lives with his vision

and generosity.

Bruce was preceded in death by his ex-wife Birdine, daughter Diane, his son Greg, and

grandson Brian Hanrahan. He is survived by his loving wife Cheryl, daughters Glenda,

Tammy, and Leslie, daughter in law Nancy, sisters Margie, Nancy and Karen, 10

grandchildren, 21 great grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. A service

honoring Bruce will be held February 12, 2022 at Abbey View Memorial (3601 Alaska

Rd, Brier, WA) at 10:00 am. A Celebration of Life will follow at McMenamins Anderson

School (1807 Bothell Way NE, Bothell, WA). Flowers can be sent to Abbey View

Memorial. Or in lieu of flowers please consider donating to Fred Hutch https://

www.fredhutch.org/en/ways-to-give/honor-a-loved-one.html