Bruce Ross, 86, of Troy

Longtime Bull River resident, Bruce Ross, 86, passed away on Friday, Nov. 15, 2013, after a long struggle against the silent killer that is Libby asbestos.  

Bruce was born May 21, 1927, in Cleveland, Ohio. His family soon moved to Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., where he spent his youth, meeting and going to grammar and high schools with his future bride, Barbara Fairbanks.

During his high school years, World War II was in full swing, and like most young men of his generation, Bruce enlisted as soon as he could, joining the U.S. Marine Corps at the end of his Junior year in high school in 1945. He proudly served his country in the Pacific theater, starting on Guam, then after the surrender of Japan, he was stationed in China as part of the China Marines keeping the peace and transitioning that country from the control of Japan to a freed nation.

After his first honorable discharge in 1949, Bruce was reacquainted with his old classmate from Briarcliff, Barbara Fairbanks, and a romance that was to last the next 64 years came to be.

They were married Dec. 22, 1951, and the great love of his life began with a quick ceremony, then back to the base at Camp Lejeune for a new staff sergeant training Marine recruits, with his new bride.

Toward the end of the ’60s, Bruce grew tired of the rat race and with much convincing to Barbara, he fulfilled a lifelong dream of moving out west. So in 1972, at 45, after selling their home, leaving jobs and lifelong friends and family, Bruce and Barbara packed up their 12-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son, bought a pickup and camper and headed West.

Finally, after five months of driving all over the country, the Ross family saw on a map of Northwest Montana, the “Ross Creek Cedar Grove.” After a misty rainy hike at the park, Bruce continued on down the Bull River Road, and upon cresting a hill, saw three rainbows over the fields spread out before them. When they visited the local real estate office the next day, they were brought right up to that very homestead, and that place became Bruce’s other love, until the end of his life. In 1984, Bruce and Barbara built Ross Realty at the junction of Route 56 and Route 200. Then in 1990, Bruce, at 63, decided to join his son Jamie in Alaska, and ran his own commercial salmon fishing boat.

Bruce is survived by his cherished wife, Barbara; sister, Shirley Ross, and brother Robert Ross; daughter, Meggen Fitchett, and son-in-law John, of Heron; son, Jamie Ross, and daughter in-law Theresa, of Homer, Alaska; along with seven grandchildren, and numerous other family and friends.

In lieu of flowers or cards, please make a small donation to the CARD Clinic of Libby, to help fight this dreadful disease.  

Arrangements are by Schnackenberg & Nelson Funeral Home in Libby.