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Bruce Redman Obituary
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He spent his childhood on ranches in southwest Montana, causing plenty of mischief. His affinity for the outdoors, work ethic, and deep-seated love for friends and family were very much products of his early life growing up in rural Montana.
After graduating from Colville High School in 1962, Bruce spent three summers working in the U.S.F.S., building trails and fighting wildfires before enlisting in the Army. He served as a paratrooper in France from 1966-69 and had 34 jumps during that time. After completing his military service, he returned to Wenatchee, WA where he earned his flight ratings and became a commercial pilot.
In the late spring of 1971, Bruce moved to Fairbanks, Alaska to fly DC- 6s as a fire bomber. Following a summer of fighting wildfires in the DC-6, he took a job flying DC-3s and C-46s out of Vientiane, Laos, for Continental Air Services. He was a lifetime member of China Post 1 and always loved telling stories about his time in Southeast Asia.
Returning to Alaska around 1973, Bruce got a job flying Twin Otters with Rowan Drilling (later ERA). In the next 30 years flying Dash 8s and Convair 580s, Bruce earned thousands of hours safely flying Alaskan families to destinations within the state. Although he loved the planes he flew, his real joy came from the passengers, crew members, gate agents, and rampers he called his friends. Following his retirement from ERA, but not ready to hang up his hat, Bruce flew King Airs for Life Flight, and Pilatus PC-12s for Take Flight.
He is survived by his four children, Ahnya (Patrick), Jarrett (Katie), Adam (Emily),and Jenna Redman; grandchildren Elliott and Milo Tobin and Henry, Audrey, and Sam Redman; and sisters, Charlotte, Bobbie, and Mary Alice.
Preceded in death by his parents and his beloved daughter, Molly Redman, as well as his nephews, Scott and Ted Hawkins, Bruce truly cherished the memories of those he loved.
In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Alaska Airmen's Association.
To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Bruce, please visit our floral store.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
1 Entry
Suzanne Johnson
November 29, 2024
Adam, Jenna, and Jarrett, I am so sorry about your Dad. Your Dad was hard to keep off the roof or ladders in general. He also beat me out to snow shoveling almost every snow storm! He´d do our driveway and then go do Jim and Helen´s. He was always helping around the neighborhood. The first few years we lived upstairs, he was doing 100 pushups a day. I was amazed that he was able to do that at his age! I was always impressed with how mobile he was and that he´d get a bike or a walk in every day! He´d laugh when he told me, "This youngster on an electric bike thought they were so tough passing me so I yelled, `Yeah buddy pretty good passing an 80 year old up the earthquake park hill.´"
As his tenant, I got to hear lots of stories! He was so proud of all of you! Adam, he´d excitedly tell me every time you passed a check ride or got checked out at a new airport on the Aleutians. Or about the adventures of you two flying in your floatplane and landing on remote lakes.
Jenna, his smile got so big whenever he told me how you could outshoot the boys (yes, he said Jarrett and Adam were good shots) but Jenna was beating all of the boys on the trap team. And he was so proud of his girl! Although he expressed frustration that everyone was involved in his health, he called you his country doctor, he said you were handling all of his doctor appointments and learning all of the things about his health. His eyes beamed when he talked of how much you loved camping, being outdoors, skiing and horses.
Jarrett, he always told me how great of a setup you had down in Idaho and how successful you were with your job. I got to hear about his side of the story about biking all over town with your kids when he got back (although your son´s version was funnier!). He didn´t tell me he bought 4 ice cream cones for himself. He loved that the city was so biker friendly. He was so proud that your kids were getting into shooting and racing bikes.
Katie, I never met you except through Bruce´s stories. He so enjoyed when you lived with him while Jarrett was deployed. He called you his roommate but quickly mentioned, well we didn´t share the same room but she lived with me. He often told me about how if he didn´t back into the garbage can, you would. He bragged and felt like it bonded you two that you shared that skill.
Emily, Bruce adored you. He felt like a king anytime you brought your sisters over or invited him to a family dinner. He would beam when he told me he was surrounded by beautiful women and how each one of them could drive big machinery!
Ahnya, he loved his annual doctor visits to Seattle so he could celebrate birthdays with you.
Everything he said was full of pride for his kids and grandkids. He loved you all!
I don´t think Bruce knew a stranger, he was always making friends. When my Dad came to visit me, they hit it off and from then on, when he came through town, Bruce would ask him to go biking with him.
Bruce´s sweet tooth made me laugh. He´d tell me he couldn´t eat carrots in his salad because they put his blood sugars over the limit, but, when the ice cream truck went through the neighborhood, he´d be out there getting some. He did try to be healthy one year for Halloween, he handed out little cutie oranges! I thought he was turning over a new leaf. But the following year, he was back to the bag of candy in which he´d tell me he´d eaten most of the bag already. He always had a fire pit and a giant bag of candy for Halloween. He enjoyed having visitors and seeing the kids all dressed up. He will be missed around the neighborhood. I´ll be praying for your family.
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