Ernest ‘Bruce’ Jones was born in Drumheller, Alberta, Canada to Ernest and Agnes Jones on February 12, 1937. The Jones family moved to Calgary where Bruce made life long friends, some of whom joined him on one of his first big adventures: pursuing his engineering degree from the University of Oklahoma.
His proud parents watched his career burgeon and take him from California to Texas. An opportunity led Bruce to the start of his international career with Mobil Oil as he moved to Tripoli, Libya. His career at Mobil spanned thirty years, eight countries, many friends with countless stories shared over the decades.
Bruce met and got married to the girl of his dreams in Libya. They wed six months after meeting – true love at first sight – and they were married for 59 years. What a joyous and adventurous life they shared – filled with travel, friendships, laughter, and lots, and lots of love. The soundtrack of their life was Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again” as they moved from one amazing place to another, providing an incredible childhood for their beloved daughters, Sarah and Karen.
Retirement saw Jane and Bruce settled in Sarasota, Florida for sunshine and golf and happy days. During this time, Bruce became a father-in-law to Shane and Gord, both of whom he loved very much. He also stepped into his proudest promotion: becoming a grandfather. A final move to Texas in 2020 brought Bruce and Jane around the corner from their treasured grandchildren, Claire and Gavin.
Bruce was the best of all of us and had a good life that was well-lived. He will be missed for all time. His love for his family, and especially Jane, is a model of how a good man should walk through this world.
Our love for Bruce is immeasurable and eternal. Our hearts ache at this loss, and we recognize how lucky we were to have this funny, charming, kind, generous, and clever man as part of our lives.
Bruce is survived by his wife, Jane; daughters Sarah and Karen; sons-in-law, Gord and Shane; grandchildren, Claire and Gavin; and sister, Alice. He will also be missed by family in Canada, England, and Ft. Worth, many friends, and Raffi, who is still looking for his couch buddy.
A celebration of Bruce’s life will be planned for a later date and we will share those details soon.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to your favorite charity in our dear Bruce’s honour.
3 Responses
The Quesnelles all had big love and admiration for our friend Bruce. So many years of great conversations, great fun and some gentle teasing (mostly due to Gil’s fondness for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Shannon’s liberal politics) to keep things interesting. We are grateful to have known him and we all send our love to Jane and everyone else in their beautiful family.
What a beautiful writing about Bruce’s life. He clearly loved his family and knew all of you loved him dearly. We pray that you will take comfort that Bruce is resting peacefully with that knowledge.
It was always such a pleasure spending time around Bruce, both here in the UK and in the US. Our favourite time though was our visit to Sarasota one Easter where he and Jane looked after us so well. He was incredibly patient with my boys, his great nephews, alongside his gorgeous Claire and Gavin, watching them in the pool, playing outside and of course letting them take over the telly with cartoons. He also loved taking Ed around the golf course, with a sneaky bacon sandwich thrown in for good measure! He had a great sense of humour and made us laugh telling us all sorts of mad stories from his life. It was so nice to have that extended time with him. His enjoyment of his family, good food, good friends and some decent sport on tv seemed to really just make him very content. I’m sure he was quietly pleased when calm fell over the house as we all disappeared off for trips to Target or the aquarium but he was always so pleased to see us on our return asking the boys lots of questions about their day out. He never once seemed stressed or overwhelmed by us all descending on them for five days! He really was just lovely to be around. I can picture him now in his favourite chair being amused by all the children. We will miss you Bruce. All our love, Nicola, Ed, Gabe, Zac and Tommy Xxx