Joseph Perkins Bushnell

Joseph Perkins Bushnell, 77, died of cancer of the esophagus & of lung complications Friday morning April 19 in the VA hospital in Ft. Harrison near Helena, Montana. Joe was born on January 29, 1936 to Joseph Perkins Bushnell Sr. and Ruby May Stanford Bushnell at their home in Delta, Colorado. When he was very young, 10 days of each month his mother would pull him in a red wagon to his father’s electrician office so she could coll light bills. Joe attended public school in Delta & graduated from Delta High School in 1954. Joe learned to drive at age 9 to help his brother-in-law on his farm. Joe was so short, they had to put blocks on the pedals so he could reach them. By age 14 he could bale hay & enjoyed helping with the haying. Joe joined the Navy after high school. He rose quickly through the ranks serving his last 3 years as an Interior Communications Electrician on the USS Alamo and received an honorable discharge with the rank of Petty Officer first class with a Good Conduct medal.
After the Navy Joe married his first wife Carol Lee and worked for Convair Astronautic Company in San Diego helping to make the Saturn rockets that sent man to the moon. While he was there he met former President Harry Truman & enjoyed an hour’s conversation with him. Joe returned to Colorado and earned an AS degree from Mesa College in Grand Junction. He also attended CSU in Fort Collins. He worked for several service stations in Fort Collins & then became the head of the Larimer County Sheriff’s Department Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Search & Rescue departments. He enjoyed teaching high speed patrol car maneuvering to the sheriffs and participated in and taught underwater and canine search and rescue. While in Ft Collins Joe founded 3 American Kennel Clubs in Colorado communities, raised Shetland Sheep Dogs (Shelties), taught obedience classes, participated in and judged dog shows and helped write the breed standard for the Australian Shepherd. He also learned to ride, drive & train horses with his girlfriend Bobby. After the Sheriff’s Dept, Joe founded a canine security agency.
Joe moved to Wyoming and worked for the Red Cross in Cheyenne while commuting to his brother-in-law’s farm then in Torrington. He moved to Laramie and managed a Wendy’s restaurant then was recruited to be the manager of a second Wendy’s. He brought his horses with him and met his second wife BeBe through her sister’s interest in horses. While in Laramie Joe trained 2 adopted mustangs. He served on the board of the Episcopal Cathedral. He met his third wife, also named Carol Lea, while working as a manager in the technical support call center Star Tek in Laramie. He became a Melchizedek priest in the LDS (Mormon) church. Joe & Carol Lea moved to Helena in 2004 where he worked as a special ed school bus attendant and a respite care provider and acting foster parent for an autistic boy.
Joe is preceded in death by both parents, sister Jane Hunter, brother Raymond (Bud) Bushnell, and stepson Doug-y. He is survived by his wife, Carol Lea Hunter Bushnell, three children: Cory Lamb of Yorba Linda CA, Valerie Searle of American Fork UT, and Joel Bushnell of Columbia SC; also his near foster son Zachary Hardman and Zach’s sister Jordynn Hardman to whom Joe acted as a friend & mentor.
Services are being held Wednesday, April, 24, 2013, 1:00pm at the Helena L.D.S. Second Ward Chapel, 1260 Otter Road. Interment will follow the service at Montana State Veterans Cemetery with Military Honors.

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