Bruce Reager

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Bruce Reager

Bruce Reager passed from this life and went home to be with Jesus on April 8, 2014 at 68 years of age, after a fairly short fight with liver cancer. Bruce had lived 10 happy and relatively healthy years following a liver transplant in August 2003. His newest diagnosis of liver cancer had come in December of 2013.

Bruce was born and raised in San Jose, California. He graduated from James Lick High School and attended San Jose City College, before going to work full-time and buying his red 1966 Corvette. Growing up with his brother and two sisters, he enjoyed activities such as playing sports and being in Boy Scouts. He also enjoyed playing the guitar and singing folk music, especially songs by his favorite group, Peter, Paul and Mary. One of his favorite jobs was a summer spent working at Yosemite National Park.

In 1967 Bruce met the love of his life, Elaine Johnson. Elaine was impressed by Bruce’s tall good looks and his hot red Corvette! The two married on April 6, 1968 while Elaine was on Spring Break from her job as a third grade teacher. At the time Bruce was working at Western Electric in Sunnyvale, CA. In a few years they welcomed their first son, Erik, followed 2 years later by a daughter, Lori, and after 4 more years another son, Ken. They took great joy in their beautiful family. In 1978 the family moved to Boise, ID to be closer to Elaine’s parents. Bruce was able to continue his tenure in the telephone industry by transferring to Mountain Bell in Boise. He retired from U.S. West in 1999 after 33 years of service at the telephone company. Over the years, the family enjoyed going camping for vacations. Some of the favorite places to camp were Red Fish Lake, McCall, Yellowstone and Yosemite. Many times Bruce’s brother, Ross, and his family would drive up from California to go camping with them.

Bruce and Elaine had wanted to go to Hawaii for their honeymoon, but just couldn’t afford the trip. They finally made it to Hawaii for their 30 ^th anniversary and decided they liked it so much they returned several more times! Another trip of a lifetime they took together was a cruise through Scandinavia. It was Elaine’s lifelong dream to visit the land of her ancestors – Sweden. They took the trip in celebration of Bruce’s good health after numerous health issues.

Bruce and Elaine's family began attending Cole Community Church shortly after moving to Boise, when the building was still on Cole Road! They continued attending Cole after the completion of the current building on Ustick Road. Here the family met many close friends whose friendship and support has been invaluable over the years. One of Bruce’s great joys was in serving as an Usher nearly every Sunday for many, many years. The entire church body has been extremely supportive through all the years of Bruce’s illnesses and hospitalizations.

Bruce is preceded in death by his parents Ross Q. Reager and Della Smith Reager. He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Elaine Johnson Reager; Son Erik Reager of Boise; Daughter and Son-in-law Lori and Cliff Thompson of Keller, TX; Son and Daughter-in-law Ken and Amber Reager of Meridian. Grandchildren Kaizik Young, Kaysa and Lars Thompson, and Tiernan and Ewan Reager; Brother Ross (Marian) Reager; Sister Lois True; Sister Sharyn (Dan) Brown; and many nieces, nephews, dear friends and family members.

A Celebration of Bruce's Life will be held at Cole Community Church, 8775 Ustick Rd. Boise at 4:00 PM on Monday, April 14. Memorials in memory of Bruce are suggested to Cole Community Church or Gift of Life Transplant House, 705 Second St. SW, Rochester, MN 55902. Please consider becoming an organ donor.

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Bruce Reager

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