Bruce and I were neighbors in our childhood. We grew up together and were each other's companion, confidante and advocate. He was my oldest and dearest friend, and the world will never be the same without him in it.
Beth, Bruce and I were fortunate to grow up in a time when parents thought pretty much alike, and if you got into trouble at school, it was reinforced at home. We had years of riding bikes in the neighborhood, baseball games in the street, running through the sprinkler, hours of playing Monopoly, reading scary books in the closet by flashlight. Bruce and I laid on our backs on the grass, gazing up at the stars, and dreamed of who we would become as adults, who we would meet and marry.
I was one year younger than Bruce, so he started school a year before me, leaving me behind and alone in the neighborhood. My Mom and I would watch him leave for school on foot, and then watch him sneak home a few minutes later and hide in the neighbor's trailer. He didn't like school much in those days! Later he and I walked to school together. I remember Donna, his Mom, would chide him not to get his new shoes wet. Bruce was attracted to mud puddles and could never quite keep away from them. We went to grade school and jr. high as well as high school together.
As kids we spent lazy summer days eating watermelon on the porch and having seed spitting contests. We'd wait at the curb on Proctor for his Dad, Big Bruce, to come home from Foss Tug. Bruce was so proud of him for being a Tugboat Captain! I remember many times coming in the kitchen and seeing Bruce & Donna at the kitchen table enjoying each other's company. We went swimming at their beach place, and got candy from the corner store on proctor in the summer. Ten cents bought us a whole bag of candy then!
We played ping pong to pass the time on Christmas Eve before opening presents at our respective families.
Bruce spent most of his time on his bike in his adolescent years, and later it was the Rambler with the oooga horn. He'd drive us to A&W for rootbeer in baby frosty mugs and french fries (which was all we could afford as kids). I remember how he loved his wooden boat he got as a teenager.
I always think of Bruce when it snows. We lived one house apart, and he would call me on the phone to look out the window. We could see each other from the bay windows in our houses. We could see it snow in the lamplight at night, and we'd anticipate hours of fun playing in the snow on a precious day off from school.
Throughout our growing up years we were each other's advocates. We were both stared at and teased, but it was o.k. as long as we had each other to lean on and to stand up for each other.
I was honored to have Bruce give me away at my wedding to Dave in 2004. Since my Dad died in 1977, there was nobody else who could have done the job. It was not easy for Bruce since he had recently lost his legs, but he proudly went down the aisle next to me in his wheelchair, and gave my hand to Dave.
Bruce was a true man of character - one of the good ones. In my book, the best! I will miss his smile and his eyes, his kindness, and his wonderful sense of humor. He was a "salt of the earth" kind of guy, fair and giving, always interested in others, very social,and I consider him a gift from God in my life.
How Bruce loved Carolyn! What a blessing she was to him. Together they loved their cats who are their kids. Carolyn once told me she and Bruce were "joined at the hip". What a beautiful love story they lived together and what a privilege for friends and family to know them as a couple. I am grateful for Carolyn in Bruce's life - all she did for him, and how she loved him with everything she had.
Bruce was "George" and I was "Martha" from a silly commercial we saw as kids and we called each other that for years. When he was in the hospital, I sent him a card with two dogs sitting, facing away. The male dog was looking over his should sadly - I called him "George". The female dog had her head in his chest in empathy and
