Bruce Franklin Ward

Bruce was born to John and Peggy Ward on May 11, 1949 in Seattle, Washington. Bruce resided in Thurston County nearly his entire life and attended school at Mountain View Elementary, Boston Harbor Elementary, Washington Middle School, and Olympia High School (class of 1967). As a child, Bruce spent much of his time playing in the waters of the Puget Sound, fishing, hunting, and exploring the woods of his parent’s property out on Fishtrap Loop in North Olympia. During his high school years, Bruce was known to take his parents’ cars out for a bit of mischief, which often resulted in some sort of auto body damage. As a result, he became a regular customer at some of the local auto body repair shops around at that time. Maybe not ironically, later in life Bruce opened up an auto body shop of his own called Tumwater Collision Center, which became his lifelong profession until his retirement in 2009.

Bruce was truly an artist with his hands and a meticulous restorer of classic cars. He enjoyed working quietly in the corner at Tumwater Collision and his home shop restoring his vehicles. At car shows, Bruce would walk away from his cars as he preferred to look at another contestant’s vehicle more than receiving attention for his craftsmanship. He most enjoyed the journey, the collaboration, and the thousands of hours it took to restore each classic car. Over his life, Bruce restored many vehicles such as a 1969 Mustang Convertible, 1970 Mustang Mach 1, 1965 Mustang Coupe, 1968 Shelby GT500, 1965 Chevy Biscayne, and many more. Some of these vehicles were featured in national publications such as Mustangs and Fast Fords Magazine and Mustang Monthly.

Bruce had been with his wife Sally (Huber) Ward since 1973. Together, they became a blended family with Bruce’s son from his first marriage and later had three children together. Some family memories we will cherish are the many fishing and camping trips, family vacations, trips to Ocean Shores, his barbeque skills, bike rides ‘around the Loop’, his blueberry banana pancakes, worcestershire infused scrambled eggs, 3-wheeling, him on the riding lawn mower, and all the individual projects he collaborated on with his kids from the time they were little to adults. He also was the most thoughtful gift giver at Christmas time and was known to wrap his presents using the painters paper and tape he used for painting cars. We will miss his sun-streaked combover that he often smoothed with his rough-skinned hands, his worn out Levis, and the thermals under the T-shirts he always wore long before it was ever fashionable.

Later in his life, one of Bruce’s greatest joys was becoming a grandfather. He loved his grandchildren dearly and so enjoyed spending time with them. He spoiled them as much as he could, bringing them full size candy bars, leaving them pumpkins at the doorstep for Halloween, and stopping with them for hot chocolate on the way home from the daycare pickup he sometimes helped with. Bruce was a much loved grandfather by his grandchildren and they miss him terribly.

Bruce is survived by his wife, Sally; son Terry Ward and grandson Liam; son Chris Ward, daughter-in-law Julia Ward and grandchildren Hannah, Harper, and Hadley; daughter Jenny Sharp, son-in-law Jimi Sharp and grandchildren Ellyse, Sydney, and William; daughter BreAnn Ward; sister Bonnie Ward; and sister Judy Morgan and brother-in-law Terry Morgan. Bruce was preceded in death by his parents John and Peggy Ward whom he long missed and is now reunited with.

A celebration of life will take place on Sunday, June, 27th from 1:00-4:00 at the Thurston County Fairgrounds in the Expo Center. Those who knew Bruce and have a classic car are encouraged to drive their classic car to this event to give Bruce one last car show in his honor.