Bruce Garr Oldfield
September 23, 1923 – July 4, 2015
Bruce Garr Oldfield died on July 4, 2015 at the age of 91. An avid fisherman throughout his life, he passed away in his sleep in a small plane over Alaska, returning from a fishing expedition with his family.
Bruce was born in Portland, Oregon to Carl Oldfield and Ida Oldfield on September 23, 1923 and grew up in nearby Milwaukie.
He earned a B.A. in Physics from Reed College.
After college, he began work at the U.S. Naval Ordnance Test Station in
China Lake, California. The Navy soon sent him to one of the first graduate programs in computing at Harvard University, where he received his Master’s degree. Bruce’s computing career continued with the Navy and then with IBM.
At IBM, he held a wide variety of positions. As Vice President of IBM’s Federal Systems Division, he was intimately involved with the computing aspects of the early space program. He led a project to develop the computer system for NHK, Japan’s national broadcasting service. He ended his IBM career as Director of the Systems Engineering Division of IBM Europe.
In his retirement, he bought and, with his son David, managed a cherry orchard in Mattawa, Washington.
After time living in California, Virginia, Maryland, New York, Japan, France, and Eastern Washington, Bruce and his beloved wife Martha settled in Sequim in 1989. There he tended his garden and was a regular at the Sunland golf course and the Sequim Elks club. He and his wife Martha were avid bridge players, both achieving Life Master status.
Bruce married Ethel Silberberg in June 1949. After that marriage ended in divorce, he married Martha Kenyon in 1958.
He is preceded in death by his first wife, Ethel and his brother George.
He is survived by his wife Martha Oldfield; his five children Carl Oldfield of Brownsville, Texas, Helen Goldberg of Merritt Island, Florida, David Oldfield of Coquille, Oregon, Duane Oldfield of Galesburg, Illinois, and Laurie Reffitt of Castro Valley, California; and five grandchildren.
Bruce will be remembered for his larger than life personality and his determination to live life to its fullest.
A memorial service will be held on July 24, 2015 from 2-4:00 P.M. at the Sequim Elks Lodge, 143 Port Williams Road, Sequim, WA.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Trout Unlimited http://www.tu.org/ or to a charity of the giver’s choice.
