Bruce Roney was born in Bremerton, Washington. He
graduated from Reynolds High School (Troutdale, Oregon)
in 1963. Bruce married Barbara Reeves in 1966. It was
love at first sight. They have two sons, Jeffery and
William. Bruce was dedicated to his children. When his
boys were young, they enjoyed camping, fishing and
boating. many of his sons friends became like sons to
him. His heart was big enough to love us all. His fourth
of July parties at the beach will be fondly remembered.
Bruce collected fire
trucks that his father had built in the late 50's and
and 60's. Bruce liked to play
pinochle and really enjoyed an good poker game with his
many friends and his boys. He was a devoted grandfather
to Brianna. She was certainly the light of his life.
Bruce
will be remembered for his love of people and his never
ending generosity. He was a loving and caring dad who
took the time to speak to each of his sons everyday.
They will miss those conversations on their drives hoome
from work. He will be greatly missed by all who knew
him.
Wife Barbara; sons Jeffery and
William; daughters-in-law Karen and Kimberly; granddaughter
Brtianna; and cousin Ann Swallie survive him.
A memorial service was held at 4
PM, Sunday January 25th at Savage Memorial Presbyterian Church
in Portland
From the Oregonian Bruce
grew up around fire trucks, as his father owned and
operated Roney Fire Apparatus, starting first in
Bremerton, Washington then moving to Portland, Oregon. By
the time Bruce graduated from high school, his father had
sold the business and was now selling the trucks he once
built, now sold under the name Wesco. Bruce worked in the
office and also did prep work before the trucks were
delivered. His older brother Ken worked as the sales
engineer at the Wesco facility in Berkeley, California. Bruce
had little to do with fire apparatus until about ten years
ago when he was given a stack of pictures of Roney fire
trucks, which triggered a new interest for him and his
younger son Will. They set out to purchase a Roney fire
engine, and eventually found a 1954 Diamond T pumper from
the Long Beach, Washington Fire Department. Bruce
calculated that it was one of the first trucks built by
his father. He later was given another old Roney pumper, a
1961 International originally purchased by Multnomah
County Fire District #10 in east Portland. Bruce
used his fire truck in community parades, school
activities, at high school homecomings and at numerous hot
rod and car shows. Wherever Bruce went with his truck, it
triggered great amounts of interest, especially from the
older guys who tols stories of driving old trucks like
his. He shared with pride that it was a fire truck that
his father had built. Bruce
was involved as a member of the Pacific Northwest Chapter
of SPAAMFAA and also served on the board of directors or
the Oregon Fire Service Museum. 
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