Cannon, Bruce Leroy 1930-2013

CANNON, MOJONNIER, FERREIRA

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 4/25/2013 at 08:13:12

BRUCE LEROY CANNON October 09,1930 ~ April 06, 2013

Bruce Leroy Cannon peacefully passed away in his new home April 6, 2013 in Red Bluff, California. He was born on a farm in Newton Iowa and was raised during the Great Depression, the youngest of five sons. He broke his first team of horses at the age of six and stayed true to this love his entire life. He was involved in rodeo, training, and breeding of show horses and also a Ferrier.

He married his high school sweetheart, Beverly at the age of 19 in Newton, Iowa. They lived there while farming and competing in rodeo, Bruce as a saddle bronc rider and Beverly as a trick rider. In 1956 they moved to California while they continued to rodeo. Bruce also worked as a contractor and as a stunt man in the western movie industry in Hollywood. In 1962 Bruce gave up rodeo and they to Palmdale, where Bruce began training, shoeing, and breeding horses full time. After he and Bev divorced in 1970, Bruce met Barbara Mojonnier and her two children, Dustin and Michelle in 1979. In 1981, they moved to a 17 acre ranch in Cottonwood, CA where Bruce built his training facility and Cannon Stallion Station. He was able to train and breed with a covered arena, barn and a roping arena. Over the years, he and Barbara showed, bred and raised American Paint and Quarter Horses, winning the APHA Superior Horse Award in Cutting along with many other distinguished awards. They chose to raise their children in a ranch style life where he taught them to ride, rope and cut cattle. He spent many years on the road hauling up and down the state to Junior and High School rodeos where he shared his love of horses with his family.

Bruce is survived by his wife, Barbara Cannon, and their two children, daughter, Michelle Ferreira, her husband Frank and their three children Kirra, Luciana, and Frank, son, Dustin Mojonnier, his wife, Rachel, and their two children Troy and Grace.

Markham once wrote, "There's a destiny that makes us brothers, none goes his way alone; all that we give unto the lives of others comes back into our own".

With his strong Christian faith and his ability to relate well, not only with animals, but with people, Bruce touched the lives of many. He had a simple"cowboy" philosophy based on past experiences in life, and coupled with his faith, he made life-long friends that he considered family. As you read this now and feel the sorrow of his passing, know that with you in his life, he was abundantly fulfilled.

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