Bruce Mouland

It is with heavy hearts the family announces the peaceful passing of Bruce Mouland, age 88, at St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital on March 14, 2024.

Predeceased by his parents Hattie and Josiah, and sister Marjorie.

Left with a lifetime of fond and loving memories his wife Pearl (nee Budden), children Bonnie (Paul Ryan), Jim Mouland (Leydis Castro-Exposito), Kim Mouland, and Jeff Mouland (Susan); his grandchildren, whom he loved dearly: Crystal and Aiden Ryan, Brenda Martinez-Castro and Ian Montoya-Castro, Elizabeth and Ethan Collette, and Hilary and Cameron Mouland; and sister Katherine (Robert), and brother in law Wallace Budden.  Bruce will also be missed by many nieces, nephews, extended family and friends.

Christened Melvin Bruce Mouland, Dad always preferred Bruce.  He grew up in Howley, on the shores of Grand Lake.  He always spoke of his childhood as an idyllic time where if you had some friends, a bike and a gun, the world was your oyster.  He moved to Deer Lake and on completion of high school he became an auto mechanic.  He met Mom in St. John’s and together they raised their four children.

He was a man who could fix anything, put anything together, and figure out how to make the things we wanted which were so much better than the things that could be bought – A toy chest for my brother that was modeled on, but better than, Mr. Dressup’s Tickle Trunk, a plywood map of Newfoundland cut with a hand jig saw that looked identical to the paper maps.  He was a cub leader for both Jim and Jeff and was the Akela for the MacDonald Drive cub pack for years.  He was always the Cookie at cub camp, and continued in that role for years after he retired as a full-time leader.  He loved the outdoors and long before geo-caching became a thing, he took us orienteering – no prizes back then, just the joy of walking through the woods with Dad’s fancy, liquid filled compass (that didn’t jiggle like our cheap versions) and a score sheet.  He loved hunting and tried for a moose license every year.  He often got one and he and friends would trot off to Granite Lake to get his moose.  He also loved bird hunting and snaring rabbits.  Walking through the bushes looking for traces and setting snares, followed by an open fire boil up with tea, fire toasted homemade bread and a tin of kipper fillets was the perfect way to spend fall Saturdays.  Summer vacations were spent exploring the province on long road trips with the trailer or, in later years, using the tricked out van whose interior Dad built from scratch, including the fake leather wall covering, the bench seat that slid out into a bed and the table that also became a bed – all made from ¾ inch plywood.   Dad would wake up early and drive for a couple of hours while we slept and then pull over to a gravel pit and cook breakfast on the Coleman stove.  These activities with the family or with friends or even on his own were his bliss.  In later years, he got into his wood pile.  Buying logs, cutting junks, splitting junks, stacking the wood outside under tarps to dry and then moving them inside for the winter.  This was how Dad spent a lot of his time with his favorite companion Cyg, the family dog, who was really just Dad’s dog.  We would watch and see him dragging in wood on a toboggan with Cyg perched on top as proud as a peacock.  That was a truly special bond. 

Dad and Mom also enjoyed travelling to see family – Guatemala, Australia, Alberta, Ontario, Maryland, Tennessee. If one of us was living there, then Mom and Dad were going to visit.  As Dad got older and his health failed, he became a big reader, anything, and everything.  He also loved his technology and became a real expert at the iPad, and a super fan of creeping on Facebook.  He would see jokes on Facebook and retell them again and again or read posts out loud if he found them entertaining.

 As his vision declined, he listened more to the radio and was the ultimate expert on the days weather and any shocking news from the radio talk programs.  Then he started walking and counting his steps – indoors.  Some days he would walk 15,000 steps around his indoor path that was 55 steps.  It was an all-day project.  Over time, his steps decreased to 10,000, then 5,000 then 2,000 and then none at all.  We were so proud of how he handled his health problems over the years, conquering so many issues and following Doctors instructions to the letter.  He was a master of keeping track of his dozens of pills until his last days.  He never complained, he never slipped into despair.  Every day was a day worth living.  We will miss him dearly.

Bruce’s family will receive visitors at Carnell’s Funeral Home, 329 Freshwater Road, on Saturday, March 16^th from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. 

Donations in Bruce’s memory may be made to the Heart and Stroke Foundation https://www.heartandstroke.ca/, or the Cancer Care Foundation https://cancercarefoundation.ca/.