Bruce Alexander Furnival

BSc CIVIL ENG, MEng, BSc CIS, BGS

Our beloved Bruce left us in his 70th year and is now with God. A man of etiquette and intellect. A gentle man with a wicked sense of humour. Generous, scholarly, reclusive, caring, and so knowledgeable.

He was born in Calgary in 1952. His father, George, was both an engineer and a geologist. He had attended Queen's University for his Master's Degree in Geology. The head of the department at Queen's was a Dr. E.L. Bruce, an eminent geologist that wrote the book, Mineral Deposits of the Canadian Shield, in 1933. The book was still relevant when republished in 2009. Our Bruce was named after Dr. Bruce who had become close friends with George and Marion and who by the time of Bruce's birth had passed away.

Bruce received his early education in California and Australia. He attended Havens School in Piedmont, California and Christ Church Grammar School in Perth, Western Australia. While based in Perth he was able to travel several times around the world with his family. He finished his matriculation at Windsor High School in Vancouver. He subsequently earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering. He went on to Reading University in the UK and earned a Masters Degree in Engineering. He later earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in General Studies, and as the use of computers grew, he acquired a Science Degree in Computer Information Systems. In Vancouver he picked up an Urban Land Economics Diploma from UBC and with that accreditation he became a realtor with The Permanent in Vancouver. Bruce's most successful small business was the Cookies by George franchise which he owned and operated in South Centre Mall for many years.

Bruce kept up his learning at SAIT where he earned a certification in heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems, a certification for the operation of liquefied petroleum transportation vehicles and accreditation for broadcast engineering.

He lived for awhile in Los Angeles with his older brother Bill, an airline captain, but ultimately returned to his home city of Calgary.

For the last 2 decades of his life, he pursued the study of religions – Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity. Bruce completed the Canadian Bible Training School course and several years later donated all of his Bibles and religious books to the School. Pastor Adalbert Tanyi very graciously named the School library the 'Bruce Library'. Meditation was an important skill he acquired and one which helped him cope with his cancers. As well, his German Shepherd, Red Hawk, provided him with friendship and daily walks by the river. Red Hawk was blind and diabetic.

Bruce received great pleasure from buying gifts for himself and his family. He loved LL Bean clothes and Apple gadgets of all kinds. His hospital table was covered with Apple products, an iPad, iPhone, desk top, chargers, electronic meditation aids, connectors, headphones, wires and cables. His table was quite something to behold.

Bruce was our father's caregiver 24 hours a day for 10 years. He was so good at it that he enabled our father to live to the age of 102. I know that it was a difficult task and it was one that bothered our father because of the sacrifices Bruce was making. His siblings all pitched in but in retrospect it was too much to ask of him. We were so grateful to Bruce.

Bruce's charitable giving reflected his love of animals and his interest in small businesses. Through KIVA he was able to support market stall owners in Asia/Africa and small operations in North America.

Julian of Norwich, a theologian who wrote in the late 1300s, offered these thoughts:

“For we are so preciously loved by God that we cannot even comprehend it. No created being can ever know how much and how sweetly and tenderly God loves them.”

Bruce was indeed loved by God, by his family and by his friends.

He was predeceased by his father, Dr. George Furnival, his mother, Marion Fraser Furnival, and his sister, Dr. Sharon Roscoe.