David Bruce Liddell

David Bruce Liddell passed away due to complications from heart disease, with his family by his side, on November 6, 2022, at the age of 83. Bruce leaves behind his wife of 61 years – Marie, two sons – Douglas and Robert, and many other close family members.

From a young age Bruce wanted a life and things that were outside his grasp. He would tell us stories about when he was a kid, seeing ski boats at Willows Beach and dreaming about owning one. The only problem was he didn’t have the money to buy one. At this point, most people would have given up on that dream and moved on, but Bruce was determined to make his dreams a reality. He saved up all the money he could to buy what he thought were blueprints for a boat but in actuality were offsets – the numbers used to build the blueprints. Again, most people would give up at this point, but not Bruce.

His determination drove him to the shipyards and marinas, asking questions, investigating and painstakingly designing the blueprints for a ski boat. Once that was complete, he and Marie spent countless hours in his parents’ garage building the boat (named T-Bird after the car that provided a large number of parts for the boat). It took him a couple of years, between ordering the offsets to completing the final build, but he did what he set out to do: he built a boat and fulfilled his dream, something most of us would have never come close to achieving. And the most incredible part was, he was only 18 when he completed the building. Truly inspirational.

This was the first step in his journey towards a life that brought many challenges; but with them came the rewards. None of the bumps in the road dissuaded him from getting whatever he dreamed of. For example, Bruce needed a trailer for the boat, so he built one (without any welding experience). Both the boat and trailer are still with us today; in need of a little TLC, but nothing a little time and effort couldn’t repair. He wanted a house, so he built one and, again, spent countless hours after work, on weekends and holidays, swinging a hammer to achieve it. He wanted more opportunities from his employment than they were able to give him, so he started his own business. He then grew it to become one of the largest construction companies in Victoria in the 1980’s, which allowed him to retire at the ripe old age of 45!

Bruce was and always will be an inspiration, a pinnacle of hard work, dedication and drive, which illustrates that anything you want in life can be achieved: you just need to want it, be willing to work at it and know that you’ll find a way to achieve it. Just don’t stop moving forward and never lose sight of your dreams.

A quote that reminds me of Bruce’s philosophy for life is: “A dream written down with a date becomes a goal. A goal broken down into steps becomes a plan. A plan backed by action makes your dreams come true.”

Bruce will be dearly missed, but the memories, stories and experiences will always be with us. We will look back often at how amazing, incredible, funny and intelligent a man he was and know that he will always be there with us, keeping a watchful eye and giving us guidance when we need it most. We didn’t say it often but we love you very much Dad. Thank you for giving us more than we needed and for always being there to support us. As proud of us as you were, we will always be equally proud of you!