Bruce Ellyson

Bruce Ellyson of Cody, Wyoming, is remembered as a committed volunteer firefighter and a man at ease in the outdoors. Those roles—serving neighbors in times of need and spending time in Wyoming’s wide-open country—appear repeatedly in public accounts of his life and his last day. He hunted with friends and knew the rhythms of the land around Cody; community descriptions emphasize his readiness to help others and his familiarity with the outdoors that defined much of daily life there.

On November 9, 2014, Ellyson was participating in a big‑game hunting trip in the Shoshone National Forest near Clearwater Campground. The events of that day ended in a sudden, tragic accident: a rifle that had been propped against a vehicle fell and discharged. Ellyson suffered severe wounds and was taken for emergency treatment; he later died from his injuries. Reporting about the incident identifies him as a 39‑year‑old volunteer firefighter from Cody, a detail that many accounts point to when noting both his civic service and the shock his death brought to local residents.

Public records and contemporary news accounts about the shooting are limited and focused on the accident itself; they do not provide an extended public portrait of his family life, schooling, or private pursuits beyond hunting and volunteer service. Where the public record is sparse, it’s nevertheless clear that Ellyson’s life included civic commitment: volunteer firefighters are people who give time and risk for neighbors, and that fact alone shaped how his community received the news and grieved his loss.

For anyone creating a memorial, it’s appropriate to center those human facts that are verifiable—the service he offered as a volunteer firefighter, his ties to Cody, and his familiarity with Wyoming’s public lands—while acknowledging that the public record is limited. His passing left a sharp impression on those who knew him and on a community that values people who serve others. Remembered with dignity, Bruce Ellyson’s life stands as a reminder of the ordinary commitments—friendship, service, and connection to place—that give a life its meaning.