Bud had no brothers and three sisters: Gladys Morrison, Lucy Skeen, and Wanda Butler/Haney,
He met his wife, Esther Gene Choate Johnson while they were neighbors in Phoenix Az, in 1943/44. They were married May 18, 1945 at Lordsburg New Mexico. His beloved wife passed away October 24, 2016 after 71 years of marriage.
Bud entered the Navy Feb 22, 1945. He served on the USS Leo AKA60 and The USS Capricornus AKA57 During WWII. He fought in the Following Battles and Landings: Leyte Gulf, Lingayen Gulf, San Miguel, San Antonio which were all in the Philippines, He also fought in the Battle at Okinawa, Japan. During these battles, his ship was hit by one Kamikaze and had bombs straddling the ship simultaneously. While in the heat of the battle a 5” gun turret swung around over his head while firing, and the concussion blew his helmet off his head, his life vest went flying, and blew all the buttons off the front of his shirt. They were credited with destroying a Japanese torpedo plane which was attacking the group.
He was discharged on March 8, 1947.
Mom & Dad lived in Phoenix Arizona until 1951 and he drove a delivery truck for Cudahy Meat Company.
They had three sons together: James born in 1946, Robert born in 1948 and Stephen born in 1951. Followed by 10 grandchildren, 23 great grandchildren and 7 great-great grandchildren. Time with his children and grandchildren were the delight of his life. Time with them was asked for frequently, wanted and he smiled with such joy anytime one of them walked into his home. Their welcome was often followed by a fun game of dominoes or their favorite card game, spite and malice!
In 1951, they moved to Buxton Oregon where he went to work in the woods logging old growth timber. Dad Loved the woods and loved trout fishing in the small streams in Oregon
In 1959 they moved to Milwaukee Oregon and he worked for Willy’s Jeep who was later was bought out by Kaiser changing the Willy’s Jeep name to Kaiser Jeep.
A few years later they moved to Sellwood Oregon and he went to work for P&C Tool Company as a tool finisher and inspector. He later worked for Smith’s Home Furnishings, running their warehouse.
When it got close to retirement time, Bud moved on to work with Knapton Tugboat Company on the Colombia River. They moved a mobile home onto the log yard right on top of the Columbia River……..Gosh they loved it! All the wild life, log rafts, tugs working putting the rafts together for transport down the river, some to local mills and some to the ship yards for shipping overseas. He stayed on with Knapton several years as a watchman, delivery driver delivering men and rigging up and down the Colombia river as needed. His tenure with Knapton and living on the river was the dream home and job of a lifetime. Here at this location, they had their most wonderful pet, Mr. Rooster! He was something else too. They were so proud of Mr Rooster.
Around 1999 Knapton sold the log yard they moved to Newberg Oregon where they resided for 5 years. As they aged, they decided in 1984 to move to So Cal too be closer to where their three boys had located to. They resided in Santee.
Bud loved the Lord and worked with his dear friend Art McDonald starting several different Churches and Bible Study Groups over the years. He was a true man of God.
Bud became very involved with the American Legion Post 303/1000. He met and became good friends with Rob and many other from this post. The many breakfasts and good times they had together really blessed him throughout the years and gave him a wonderful community to be part of.
One of Bud’s favorite thing in the whole world, and he reminisced all the time about, was the many times as their kids were growing up, even less than a month ago, he spoke about returning to Oregon to take the family camping and fishing. Weekends, vacations, or just a day here and there, he would load up the tent, camping gear, fishing gear and take the kids to the hills. In Oregon, the upper Clackamas River, and the little creeks that fed it, was almost always the destination… catch a mess of native trout, make a little cornmeal batter to roll them in and cook it over the old Coleman camp stove.
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