- Date Of Birth: May 20, 1950
- Date Of Death: April 29, 2021
- State: Utah
Bruce Clayton Graham “graduated” from mortality on Thursday, April 29, 2021 due to complications from Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.
Bruce was born on May 20, 1950 to Estella LaVal Clayton and Franklin Wayne Graham in El Paso, Texas. He was raised in the El Paso area and very proud of his Texas heritage. Out on the range of Texas, he worked as a young man repairing fences, riding his horse, and eating beans and tortillas. He particularly enjoyed a semester of bull riding in his college days.
Bruce graduated from Eastwood High School in May 1968. He later graduated with a degree in Business Administration from Newport University.
He would say the best date of his life was his first and only blind date, set up by a mutual friend, with Annie, the love of his life. They were sealed in the Mesa Arizona Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on June 29, 1972. Together they built a love story and beautiful family, Bruce’s pride and joy.
Bruce enlisted in the United States Army in May 1973 and served honorably during the Vietnam War era. He was an Electronic Instrument Repairman with the 11th Air Defense Artillery Group at Fort Bliss, Texas.
After three years in the Army, Bruce made a career for himself in electronics and worked on such projects as the F-16, A-12, and the B-2 airplanes in Fort Worth, Texas and Ogden, Utah. Later in life, he worked in Iraq as a military contractor performing computer network engineering. One particular assignment of note was as the project manager in charge of building the communications center at Camp Anaconda in Iraq. He was proud to serve the country he loved so very much and did so at much personal sacrifice.
He was a lifelong faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and gave of his talents and time generously. His favorite experiences were as a service missionary, working in the Bishop’s Storehouse and the Ogden peach orchard. He loved the missionaries with whom he served and could be found driving the ATVs with them around the orchard or chatting it up on his breaks in the office drinking Mountain Dew.
He is survived by his wife Annie Marie Wharton, his brothers Gary (Jeanette) Graham and Leon (Pualani) Graham, his children Keith (Linh) Graham, Christopher (Wendy) Graham, Kimberly (Shane) Stokes, and Sean (Jessica) Graham, and ten grandchildren. Bruce is preceded in death by his parents and younger brother Don (Denise-living) Graham.
