Dawn Bruce

With profound sadness we announce that our beloved Dawn Bruce has passed away. She left this Earth peacefully, surrounded by loved ones at St. George Regional Hospital on Wednesday June 14, 2023. She was 77 years old.  On November 27, 1945, Raymond and Fern (Ruesch) Demille welcomed their sixth child, who they named Marilla Dawn, but to her family and friends she was simply, Dawn. Her sweet soul and fiery spirit, quickly became a light in the lives of all she met.  Her outgoing, spunky, fun loving personality naturally drew people to her. You could always count on her for a funny story, laugh or a listening ear. Dawn was high energy, hardworking, she didn’t stay still for long, and if she did it was because her hands were working on something. She graduated Hurricane High School with many friends.

Soon after graduation, she married Kenneth Geeting. Dawn found purpose as a caring and dedicated mother to her three children, whom she cherished completely. They were married for 15 years.

In 1980, she met and married her second husband James Robert Bruce, who brought with him four children and she became a mother of seven. She and Jim were married for almost 43 years at her passing.

Dawn’s love of recipes and cooking often gathered the family and many cherished memories were made in her kitchen. She’d mastered the art of dutch oven cooking and made the world’s greatest dutch oven chocolate cake. Her baked beans, frosting, pink popcorn, suckers and homemade rootbeer were legendary. She loved the outdoors and family and friends knew if she wasn’t in the kitchen, she could be found working in her yard. Until her final days, if she thought no one was around to scold her, you wouldn’t be surprised to find her making her way around the kitchen, trying to do dishes or wash eggs.

Yet, it was her ability to love and serve those around her that was most remarkable. If she heard someone needed one hundred dollars and all she had left in the world was exactly one hundred dollars— she was at their side with the money in her hand, no questions asked. She believed most of life’s problems could be fixed with a hug, a little ibuprofen, and a Diet Coke. Her decline in health was heartbreaking for her, there was so much she wanted to do, so many people she wanted to help. Her love for her family and friends cannot be compared. The space she left in this life cannot be replaced. How bittersweet it is that our Dawn is, finally, at rest and we cannot be with her to enjoy it, to her family and friends 77 years was not enough.

She is survived by her husband, children and grandchildren.

A Memorial service will be held Saturday June 24, 2023 11AM at the LDS chapel, 1835 South Washington Fields Road, Washington, UT 84780.