Bruce Gideon Woolpert died after a long illness at home in
Watsonville on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2004. He was 84.
Bruce Gideon Woolpert
Bruce Gideon Woolpert died after a long illness at home in Watsonville on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2004. He was 84.
He was born at home in Delia, Kan. on July 2, 1919. He attended elementary school in Delia and junior high and high school in Topeka, Kan. where he graduated in 1937.
His family moved to California so their sons could go to college.
Bruce graduated from Ventura Junior College, Ventura, Calif., and then the University of California at Berkeley, where he graduated with a B.S. in civil engineering in 1942.
The Berkeley Draft Board sent him to Southern California to work at ship yards and airplane factories until the end of World War II.
He returned to the University of California at Berkeley to work for a year as an instructor in civil engineering. Becoming a licensed civil engineer was a source of pride all his life and he helped young people attain that qualification.
Next he earned a master’s degree in soils mechanics from Harvard in 1947 and returned to California to work for Standard Oil Company in San Francisco where he heard of a teaching job at Stanford University. It was while he was teaching engineering at Stanford that he met his future wife Mary Elizabeth (Betsy) Wilson and earned the degree of civil engineer.
The couple was married in Stanford Memorial Church on June 18, 1949 and set up their home in Watsonville where Bruce began doing engineering work for Granite Rock Company.
After the retirement of Anna R. Wilson, Betsy’s mother, Bruce and Betsy headed that company until Jan. 1, 1987, when Bruce and Betsy retired. However, Bruce continued to spend many hours each week there, including conducting “Graniterock University” until his health problems prohibited such activity.
He was an enthusiastic member of the Young President’s Organization and a co-founder of the World President’s Organization, enjoying travel with those groups. He also was a member of The Executive Committee, another business organization, and on the board of the National Stone Association.
He had played clarinet in his high school and junior college marching bands, marching in the Rose Parade with the Ventura Junior College Band. He loved to dance to swing music and in his later years became a fan of the San Francisco Opera with season tickets on Sunday afternoons.
In the community, Bruce’s chief contributions were to the Santa Cruz Planning Commission, where he served as long as Francis Silliman, who had appointed him, remained in office. He also served on the California State Association of County Planners, filling the position of vice chair and then chair of the organization. He was on the Board and the president of the then Watsonville Chamber of Commerce and later was chosen to be Man of the Year. He was also honored by his alma mater, Topeka High School, by being inducted into their Hall of Fame. He was a director of the Pajaro Valley National Bank and the Pajaro Valley Savings Band, of the California School of Clinical Psychology and of the International Human Learning Resources Network, an organization formed around Virginia Satir, eminent family therapist.
He is survived by his wife, Betsy; brother Duan Winston Woolpert of Long Beach, Calif.; sons Stephen of Carmel Valley and Bruce of Cupertino; daughters-in-law Elizabeth (Liz) and Rose Ann; and four grandchildren, Melissa, Joseph, Marianne and Arthur. He is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews and his devoted caregiver for almost five years, Hanny Sparks.
Viewing will be possible at Mehl’s on Friday, Jan. 23 from 9 a.m. to noon. The celebration of his life will take place at the United Presbyterian Church, 112 East Beach Street in Watsonville at 2 p.m.
Burial at the Pajaro Valley Memorial Park will take place after the reception at the church following the service.
Contributions in his memory may be made to the United Presbyterian Church of Watsonville, the San Francisco Opera or a favorite charity.
