He was born in Yakima on February 9, 1933. He attended Highland High School.
Proudly enlisting as a teenager, Dad served as an electrician in the Navy from 1951-1955, and was deployed during the Korean War.
He married Shirley Sizemore on March 22, 1952; Dad was 19 and Mom was 15.
He and Mom were charter members of the Yakima Jeep Jockeys, which began in 1963 and incorporated in 1965. Many weekends were spent riding the mountains with friends—and Mom and Dad never left us behind.
He was a well-known Yakima businessman. He owned and operated Bruce's Flying A Service on 16th and Summitview back in the sixties; then was employed at Flowing M, Chain Gear, and then became a Director with his friend and co-worker, Russ Sims, at Sims Manufacturing. Sims then merged with Michelsen Packaging, where Dad worked for several years alongside Russ before retiring.
But he was more than all of that. He was Dad to four children-Barry, Debbie, Holly, and Scott—and husband to our mother, Shirley. He would tell you those jobs were far more important than those for which he received a paycheck.
From him, we learned to be honest, live with integrity, and practice the virtues of loyalty and compassion. It was the honor of our lives to be his children.
He is pre-deceased by his son, Scott, in 1984; his daughter, Holly, in 1989; and by our mother, Shirley, in 2016.
He is survived by Barry and his wife, Haesun along with their two sons, Juwon and Jaewon Drake; Debbie and her husband, Alan Gorman, along with their daughters, Jessica Pickering and Sarah Hardisty, and son, Chris Waddle; and by Holly’s two sons, Raleigh and Jordan Heitzman. At last count, he is survived by at least twenty great-grandchildren and three great-great grandchildren.
Play hard, Dad. We'll join you shortly.
