Arrangements have been done by the Billingsley Funeral Home on Ravenscliffe Road in Huntsville. Check out https://www.billingsleyfuneralhome.com/ for the beautiful obituary. There will be celebration of life at a later date. Let's be there.
When Greg Rogers told me about Bruce's death I thought of the hundreds of Olympia staff who will be gutted by this news. Bruce's combination of honesty, high expectations, story telling and humour made for many great relationships over the 40+ years when Bruce would inspire these young people to work hard and achieve. I also thought of the interview Joy and I had with Bruce for my book A Hero's Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp. We met in the coach's dining hall and it was maybe the most fun interview I had, and love that Joy got to know the man who lived Olympia with everything he did.
To capture what the loss of an Olympia legend means I have trolled Facebook to capture thoughts of staff. The best part of these beautiful words is that they echo the thoughts of hundreds. I have also taken an excerpt from our interview with Bruce. We all impact others on our journey and its obvious many lives were influenced, and perhaps changed, because of Bruce's guidance and caring attitude. Thanks Bruce!
Jodie Collins
I will remember Bruce so fondly. A big softy underneath it all. He gave me so much shit once for letting the oil nearly run dry in my Honda CRX, but he still fixed it and hugged me afterward. What a guy.
Dani Bentley
Hey Jodie thanks for sharing your thoughts. Bruce certainly was one of a kind. I never had a bad time in his presence no matter what we were doing. And at times we were doing some crappy stuff. I always looked forward to spending time with him and felt that when I was 13 to when I was 23 and older. What a loss. He impacted so many and had a huge heart underneath that gruff exterior. What a loss. Hugs.
Adam McConnell
Bruce Ransom, a native of nearby Hillside (where Limberlost Road and Highway 60 meet), had worked on the property of Olympia before, helping to pour the foundation for the director’s office and other jobs. His uncle owned all the dairy in the area and Bruce would help him deliver milk, including to Olympia. His brother-in-law did a lot of work for Coach Grace and often hired Bruce to help. One of those sojourns was to work on the new septic tank and Coach Grace was so impressed with Bruce’s work and demeanour that he offered him a full-time job to be the replacement superintendent for Gerry Withers, who was retiring after working for Kiwanis Camp and then Olympia since 1948. It took a bit of negotiating, but Bruce officially started on May 24, 1984.
“Gerry was a great guy and very handy but didn’t really share much,” Bruce recalls. “I think his belief was for me to figure out things for myself and in the long run that was better, but that first winter was hell on earth, so cold, so much snow, and so much to learn on the fly. I was in charge of 37.5 acres of property with 1,500 feet of shoreline. The only thing I remember Gerry teaching me was how to keep beer cold in the back of the toilet.”
Bruce looks back fondly and with a lot of pride on those first few years in this new adventure called summer camp. He loved working with the counsellors. He loved their enthusiasm, and an added bonus was that he really wasn’t that much older than those who were working for him and that created a great rapport.
“I have high standards because things have to be done right the first time. That made me have to be the bad cop sometimes, but I think the counsellors saw both sides; do good work and you’ll be rewarded. The experience taught them that they should have high standards too.”
Those early years, and being at camp for over 40 years, gave Bruce a perspective that he doesn’t mind sharing.
“I think the best years of the camp were the late ‘80s into the late ‘90s,” Bruce says. “I had great workers like Ralf Rosencranz, Craig Hedges, and Rob Simmons. Such a high level of enthusiasm for the work. Salt-of-the-earth guys who would do anything for me and most of the time, do it right. I’ve had a lot of great kids work with me over the years. In this line of business, a good worker is key. If anything is done haphazardly, then I have to double-check, and that’s a waste of my time. People always refer to the Dave Talk, but I used to give the kids the Bruce Talk. They would either end up employed or unemployed.”
The improvements to the infrastructure of Olympia over the years are not just Bruce, but there’s no discounting the ingenuity of the man. Look around and you’ll see Bruce’s passion and skill. Olympians who know and have worked with Bruce can see his handiwork and grit in many of these facilities. The pride Bruce has in the camp is outweighed by the fact that a lot of what was done was, in Bruce’s terms, squeezing every nickel he could. Just imagine the following.
Because there weren’t enough cabins, Bruce and his crew had to move up to 50 bunkbeds every Sunday depending on camp enrollment for the following week. It was the effort to scrounge for more housing that brought out the best in Bruce. The bunkhouse was purchased from the Bruce Power facility and transported to camp in four units and put back together. The Bruce Power facility is about 300 km from camp. Dorms 1 and 9 were originally three school portables repurposed and pieced together. Dorm 8 was also purchased from Bruce Power and transported to camp in the 80’s — it holds 40 beds in four separate sections. Bruce connected these with a common hallway. Cabin 21 was originally a training hall for the local fire department that was moved to camp and renovated. On coaches’ row, the motel unit was built, housing up to 36 coaches in five different units. Each of the five units had stairs leading out, but Bruce and Coach Grace improved on that by adding a deck that went along the length of the building. They later made it even more conducive to coaches interacting when they built a patio. When the iconic Hudson Bay building, erected in 1873, was determined in 2000 to be unsafe with rotting wood, Bruce did what needed to be done: he burned it to the ground and replaced it with Hudson Bay 2, also called “The Box.”
Reclamation projects were also part of the folklore of Bruce’s work at Olympia. The Tuck Shop was originally the director’s cabin. Bruce, who seemingly knows everyone on every lake in the area, found a new home for Coach Grace. A cottager on Bella Lake was going to tear down this house but Coach Grace bought it in 1988 and Bruce had it moved to its present location, laid it on a concrete slab, and built a screened-in porch. He also took all the extras that he didn’t use, like planks, drywall, and insulation, and used it in other places in the camp. One of the most amazing stories may be the “Bro Shop” that a lot of people walk by on the way to the fieldhouse without knowing its unique history. A cottager on nearby Blue Lake was going to burn down his garage. Bruce took a few students and they cut the garage into three pieces with a chainsaw, brought it to camp, and put it back together!
Bruce and his wife Diana lived year-round in the bunkhouse for almost 20 years before moving to a nearby house on Oxbow Lake. His winters are spent doing extensive renovations, despite the potential for minus-25-degree weather. His new home is not on camp property but as close as he can get. “I always joke with Dave that I am just a shotgun blast away.” Many cottagers don’t like being near a camp, with all the noise and the watercraft dominating the lake but Bruce sees things differently.
“Kid’s noise is not noise. The best sound in the world is hearing kids having fun.”
Truth be told, the massive amount of work done over the years is a result of the teamwork between Bruce and Coach Grace.
“It took me two years to like Dave, but now we are so close that this is not like a job anymore, it’s who I am. People don’t realize how much money Dave pours into this camp, but he rarely refuses any idea or request that I have. He trusts me and empowers me to run this department as I see fit.”
It is when talking about a former employee and Olympia mainstay that Bruce shows the true depth of his character and the breadth of the life at Olympia. Wes McConnell was the waterfront director for years and he and Bruce were very close, working hard and playing hard. All for the good of the camp and to maximize the experience of others. Wes died of cancer in 2017.
“Wes was a great guy and a lot of fun, who did a lot of good for Olympia. He came to see me before he died and had made peace with his maker.”
A true Olympian who embodies the teachings of the hero’s journey, Bruce ironically never paid much attention to what Coach Grace is all about. Has never been to a Dave Talk. Always too busy. But he gets it. Here’s proof.
“Once you attend a camp like Olympia, your life is changed. You cannot go back because what you learn takes you to a new normal that dictates many things about the direction of your life. I appreciate all the counsellors and coaches of Olympia, especially Dave Grace.”
In writing this blog I smile at some of my memories with Bruce. HIs blunt honesty combined with an absolute heart of gold. Need something done? Find a busy man. Bruce was busy. I'm proud that a one-hour interview done in 2019 allowed Bruce to convey such beautiful thoughts that will live forever. I can see him the centre of a crowd, holding court on any topic, usually surrounded by aspiring young leaders soaking it all in for their good. For so many hundreds of Olympia alumni, be thankful that we had Bruce Ransom as an ally on our journey. May he Rest in Peace.
A Hero’s Journey chronicles the people that make up the history of Olympia, but it does far more than that. It serves as an inspirational guidebook for readers to become the hero of their own path. In order to do this the book examines the history of the land on which the camp has been built, from its indigenous origins to the European settlement process of the 1800’s. and the use of the land by the Royal Norwegian Air Force during WWll. The book is built on a collection of stories related to mentorship, sports psychology, and community building. With this book author Chris Dooley honours the 50-year history of the camp while giving us all a window into seeing a deeper level of understanding of the world and our place in it.
Books Available at:
- Amazon and Indigo.ca
- Indigo, Burlington Brant Street location.
- The Different Drummer Book Store on Locust Street in Burlington\
- Cedar Canoe Books on Main St in Huntsville
- Etransfer me $30 and I'll drive it to your house !
- available online at aherosjourney.ca
- audiobook version is available at Audible, Amazon, and iTunes
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