Bruce Donald Godron was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey on November 22, 1954, the 3rd of 6 children to Marshall Sr. and Hazel Godron. Bruce was a kind giving spirit whose family always came first. He was a very talented man who was humble, giving, and selfless and had a great sense of humor.
Bruce is survived by his loving, devoted wife of 46 years, Barbara (Burrell) Godron, his daughter and granddaughter Prudence and Renee, his adoring daughter Priscilla, 3 grandchildren, Dallis, Shyanne and Bruce, as well as sister’s Geraldine (Deannie) and Florence (Judy). He is also survived by many caring family members and numerous loving friends.
Bruce is predeceased by his parents, brothers Marshall (Butch), John John and sister Willow.
After moving from Elizabeth NJ, Bruce lived in Avenel before the family relocated to the lake community of Browns Mills, NJ where he spent his youth and teen years riding his custom built bicycle through the woods with his best friends Kevin Bartholomew and Kenny Donelson. The bicycle was upgraded to a motorcycle and then a Corvette. Kevin recalls many freezing rides on the back of Bruce’s motorcycle around town and especially the dare devil races in his Corvette around Mirror Lake.
Bruce left school early to go to work with his dad and brother Butch as a carpenter in addition to building his and Barbara’s first family home.
He met Barbara at a dance held at the BMIA Hall at Mirror Lake in 1970 and they married on April 19, 1973, but if you asked Bruce he always said he met Barbara when she was a stripper and he was attending Princeton College.
While living in New Jersey, Bruce and Barbara had their two daughters. Prudence in May of 1975 and Priscilla in July 1976. They moved to California in November 1976 so Bruce could pursue work as a carpenter and metal framer, although he had his children convinced he was a firefighter, in the military, a police officer and a school crossing guard.
While living in California they had their son Marshall lll in April 1981. With their children heavily involved with the Blue Devils Drum & Bugle Corp/Winter Guard both Bruce and Barbara traveled and supported the program by driving the equipment truck, building props and cooking for several years.
Bruce sought work in the construction industry in late 1993 and then moved the family to Las Vegas in 1994. Here his family grew with the addition of his three grandchildren which brought him great pride. He enjoyed with great pleasure camping, boating, fishing, watching his children/grandchildren play sports, riding motorcycles and spending time with his family. It was also here unfortunately that Bruce suffered a devastating loss with the death of his beloved son Marshall in 2003 at the young age of 22.
Bruce enjoyed traveling on his motorcycle with his buddy Mike Davis by his side just as he did with his brothers and son in earlier years. He also enjoyed his many rides, tinkering in the garage and hanging out with his brother-in-law/buddy Kevin Hickey.
After years of struggling with the loss and getting back to life they decided to move back New Jersey in 2009 where Bruce started his own business renovating and painting golf carts, restoring vehicles and building his pride and joy Ford 1929. It was here that he became softhearted and fell in love with a little Maltese Shih Tzu, named Molly. Here Bruce was diagnosed with his 1st cancer which resulted in the removal of one kidney. Due to Bruce’s health and the harsh winters of New Jersey, Bruce and Barbara moved back to Las Vegas in 2015.
While back in Vegas Bruce’s COPD improved but unfortunately in November 2018 he was diagnosed with not one but 3 types of cancer one of which was Pancreatic Cancer. As Bruce was fighting a tough battle with many chemo and radiation treatments he was grateful for the companionship and care of his son-in-law Matt Bonner. After several months showing much strength and determination he ultimately lost his fight on April 7, 2019.
His family is proud of the husband, father and papa he was. Bruce touched so many lives in many ways. He was always willing to help and would literally give the shirt off his back to anyone. Bruce was the type of man that after speaking with him for just a few minutes you knew that he would be the kind of person that you could trust and would make a good friend. He had no enemies and was extremely well liked and thought of.
Bruce will be extremely missed by all whose lives he touched but especially the family he worked so hard for and loved so much.
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