OBITUARY Bruce Buddy Roever Passed away on November 9, 2018 Play Tribute Movie Bruce Buddy Roever was born on February 7th, 1947, in Port Washington, Wisconsin, the son of Oliver and Leona Roever. Growing up, he had a very special relationship with his grandmother, Granny Roever, as he affectionately called her. Among other things, she was a great cook, and he loved her butterscotch pie.
After graduating from Cedarburg, Wisconsin High School he attended The University of Minnesota and in 1969 he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering. And in June that same year, he married Trudy Skogstoe. They left for Santa Monica, California immediately, where he worked for 11 months before being drafted into the Army.
After two-years in the Army, he started working for McDonnell Douglas Corporation in Huntington Beach, California. He was excited to be working on components for the newly developing space program, and was one of the first people who got to sit in a simulator to try docking the spacecraft. Son Joshua was born there in 1979.
Eight years later, a move to the Colorado Springs area found him employed at Texas Instruments. While there, he received an MBA from The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Daughter Katie was born in 1983.
Several years later he was transferred to Rome, Italy for two years and the whole family joined him. What an adventure that was! We were able to travel all over Europe, Egypt and Greece.
In 1991, he came to Texas and began working in the McKinney office of Texas Instruments and retired from there in 2006. For the past couple years, he had a job as a part-time Uber driver, and found it so interesting to drive around the area and meet so many varied people. Bruce always liked working with teenagers.
In Huntington Beach, he was a very active and involved leader in the church youth group, leading the bible studies and chaperoning group trips and activates. One of the things he enjoyed while at TI, was volunteering to work with local high school students on a yearly robotics competition. He was always excited seeing the unique designs the students came up with.
Bruce was always supportive of his children’s interest and accomplishments. He was so proud to be there when JR crossed the finish line on his first half-marathon, and was there for countless athletic games, concerts and competitions for both kids. When Katie started playing the trumpet, however, he was seriously considering fixing up the shed a little so she could practice out there.
As she got to be a better player, he was OK with her practicing in the house! Joshua’s guitar playing got better, too, so he was also allowed to practice in the house! Bruce was so happy to be a part of JR’s wedding, and especially honored to walk Katie down the aisle when she married.
He loved visiting with his grandsons, Dylan and Aidan, and when we weren’t together, he enjoyed face-time visits! As with many Wisconsites, he was a huge Green Bay Packers fan and remained so throughout his life. He considered it a big deal to be a ‘cheesehead’, and with some degree of smugness maintained that only ‘true’ football fans would bundle up and attend football games outdoors in the winter at Lambeau field.
Ice hockey was also a great interest to him from local teams, to college teams to the big leagues. Getting tickets to one of the games in the Frozen Four in the Bradley Center in Milwaukee was a big thrill for him. Bruce loved rock and roll music, even though he was pretty much tone deaf.
He was a voracious reader and he especially loved mysteries and suspense, but we both laughed at the antics of Stephanie Plum in the Janet Evanovich series. Meeting her at a local book signing was so much fun! Being an engineer and mathematician, he had some unique items on his bucket list.
He crossed the International Date Line while traveling for work, and later, was able to cruise through the Panama Canal and cross the equator. In the tiny town of Rugby, North Dakota, we found the marker for the geographical center of North America! Bruce was a three-time cancer survivor and went through surgeries, radiation and countless rounds of chemo.
Though it all, he remained positive, and strived to maintain a life as normal as possible. His most recent cancer was successfully treated with an experimental drug. He was proud to know that he was a part of the development and trial of that drug which now helps so many people.
Although he will be missed so much, we are grateful that all his earthly pain and struggles ended as he passed to his eternal home. Rest in peace.
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