Bruce Du Vall was killed on his 22nd birthday, May 18, 1989.
He was a Corporal in the United States Marine Corps and was participating in a routine ship-to-shore training exercise off the coast of Australia when adverse weather hindered the operation. Bruce drowned because his unit was not aware that his pack had gotten caught underneath the raft after it had capsized. The autopsy report showed that he lived several hours after he was discovered pinned underneath the raft, but a severe blow to the neck played a significant part to his death. It was concluded that drowning was the main cause of his demise.
High school sweethearts, Bruce and Isabel Sanidad (now Simmons) were married in 1987 and had an 18-month-old daughter at the time of his death. Additionally, Isabel was seven months pregnant with their son, Bruce Du Vall Jr. (they call him BJ).
As of July 2005, Jaclyn Du Vall is now 17 years old and will graduate from Raymore-Peculiar High School (Peculiar, Missouri) next year. She plans to attend Missouri University and pursue a law degree. BJ Du Vall will turn 16 on July 24th, 2005 and will be a sophomore in the fall of this year. Both children are extremely athletic (a tribute to Bruce, not Isabel 🙂 and both are 4.0 students (Isabel may have contributed a tad bit more to that trait :-).
Isabel remarried a wonderful man, Steve Simmons, in 1991 and their son Dalton Simmons turned 13 in July 2005. Isabel also has two step-children, Brandon Simmons (age 23, married, in the Air Force, and stationed in New Mexico) and Kaysie Sanders (age 20, married, mother of two, and residing in Illinois.)
Below is a photo of Bruce’s Memorial Brick from the WSHS Courtyard. The photo was taken by Isabel on Saturday, July 16, 2005 when she was visiting Seattle for our 20-Year Reunion.
