Bruce Edward Hedquist

Bruce Edward Hedquist, 82 years old, formerly of South Fort Myers, FL and Dorset, VT, more lately year-round of Granville, NY, and finally of Queensbury, NY, passed away in the early morning of July 7, 2025 at The Landing at Queensbury of natural causes.

Bruce was born July 31, 1942 in Worcester, MA, the only son of the late Edward Milton Hedquist and the late Frances Bernardine (McCloskey) Hedquist. He spent his early years in “The Summit” area of Worcester and later in the nearby suburb of Paxton, attending both public and parochial schools. He graduated from Wachusett Regional High School in Holden, MA, in 1960, following a transfer from Assumption Preparatory School in Worcester in 1959.

In his youth, Bruce was an avid golfer, distance swimmer, runner, alpine skier and amateur ham radio operator, licensed by the FCC as K1RUX. He played Little League baseball and participated in JV and intramural sports including baseball, basketball, and tackle football. During his school years, he worked as a golf caddy, restaurant busboy, car washer, and farm worker.

In 1960, Bruce enlisted in the United States Navy, where he trained as an electronics technician in radio communications. Stationed in suburban Washington, D.C., he maintained solid-state digital SSB HF radio and cryptographic systems, participated in ham radio MARS activities, and took part in experimental Moon Bounce microwave tests. He also trained as a backup firefighter on base.

After military separation in 1963, Bruce studied electrical engineering at Johns Hopkins University and worked part-time at Westinghouse Electric Corp.’s Underseas Division. He later earned an A.A. in Liberal Arts from Greenfield Community College (1967) and a B.Sc. in Applied Mathematics, with honors, from Metropolitan State University in Denver (1974).

In the mid-1970s, Bruce began his formal surveying and geodetic career. From 1975 to 1978, he was a graduate student in the Geodetic Sciences program at The Ohio State University, while also working summers as a survey technician with the Federal Bureau of Land Management in various western U.S. states. Throughout the 1970s, Bruce also held positions in the food and beverage industry and the military electronics sector as a research technician, draftsman and technical writer.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Bruce worked domestically and internationally, including in Peru, where he used pre-GPS doppler satellite positioning systems to conduct surveys in Amazonia and the Andes Mountains. During the 1980s and early 1990s, Bruce held both P.E. and P.S. registrations in Ohio and performed high-precision geodetic and astro-geodetic surveys on major U.S. infrastructure projects in Nebraska and Puerto Rico, conducted astro-geodetic surveys for power projects in Wisconsin and Ohio and worked as a staff geodesist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, CA. He later worked in the oil and gas sector in Houston, TX, and in the Boston, MA area as an engineering surveyor.

In the early 1990s, Bruce relocated to California, joining the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). For nearly 17 years – until his retirement in 2008 – he served as a Professional Land Surveyor in the San Bernardino and Fresno district offices. During the 2000s, while still at Caltrans, he resumed graduate studies in Geomatics Engineering at California State University, Fresno.

After retiring in 2008, Bruce enjoyed his passions: genealogical research, golf, fishing, solving newspapers puzzles, and watching crime and spy shows. He divided his time between summers in Dorset, VT, and winters in South Fort Myers, FL. He also traveled extensively throughout the United States and Europe – especially to Ireland and Sweden, his ancestral homelands. Bruce’s favorite sports teams included The Ohio State Buckeyes, the Green Bay Packers, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Boston Red Sox and the Boston Celtics. At age 75, he returned to ham radio, re-licensing under the call sign KW1KW. He also greatly enjoyed time with his extended family.

Bruce was predeceased by his parents; his sister Marilyn Louise Shea of Wading River, NY, Middle Granville, NY and most recently Punta Gorda, FL; and his brother-in-law Charles Edward Shea, originally of Middleboro, MA, and later of Wading River, NY.

There are still many left to mourn Bruce’s demise, firstly his three nieces: Colleen Elizabeth Shea of Rocky Point, NY; Noreen Elizabeth Shea and her husband Arthur Vernon Tennant, formerly of Wading River, NY, later of Granville, NY, now of Hudson Falls, NY; and Maureen Elizabeth (Shea) Haas and husband Mason Edward Haas, formerly of Jamesport, NY, now of Punta Gorda, FL.

He also leaves behind his grandnieces and grandnephews, including: Ashley Lynn (Haas) Paciotti, her husband Joseph, and their children Cole and Evie, of Lake Ariel, PA; Erika Jordan Haas and her partner Covey Son, of Los Angeles, CA; Cody Mason Haas and his partner Julie Hauck, of Solana Beach, CA; Sarah Louise Tennant and her partner Charles LaHaise, of Rexford, NY; and Timothy Charles Tennant and his partner Clémence Duffier, of Paris, France.

Bruce is also survived by his extended family, including his paternal cousins Barry Hedquist and wife Donna Michael of Ponte Vedra, FL, Carolyn (Hedquist) Swanson and husband David of Cape Coral, FL, and pre-deceased by his cousin Donna (Hedquist) DesRoches and husband Arthur of Cape Coral, FL. Bruce is also survived by his maternal cousins James Langway and wife Eleanor (Larson) of Southborough, MA and Cape Cod, MA; and David Jons of Worcester, MA.

He also leaves behind their children and grandchildren, including Laura (Swanson) Sweeney and husband Brian, Kristin Swanson, Alanna (DesRoches) Penticoff and Andrew DesRoches, all of Cape Coral, FL. Bruce’s legacy continues through many other second and third cousins from the McCloskey and Mauke family lines, whose whereabouts are now scattered across the United States and beyond. 

Bruce also leaves behind many fellow amateur radio operators. Thank you and 73 to all of you for your fellowship.

Bruce’s ashes will be dually interred at Ancient Cemetery in Yarmouthport, MA, alongside his parents; and at Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne, MA, with military honors, in recognition of his service in the United States Navy.

In lieu of flowers or other expressions of condolence, Bruce has requested that donations be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105 or the Shriners Hospital for Children, P.O. Box 947765, Atlanta, GA 30394.