Bob T. Bruce

Bob T. Bruce, 74, retired travel editor of the Abilene Reporter-News, died at 3:15 a.m. on Friday, March 13, 2009, at University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas. Burial will be at 10:00 a.m. Monday, March 16th, at Elmwood Memorial Park in Abilene, under the direction of The Hamil Family Funeral Home, 6449 Buffalo Gap Road in Abilene. Following the burial, funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. Monday at First Baptist Church, 1333 North 3rd Street in Abilene, with Dr. Phil Christopher officiating. The family will receive friends from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home. Mr. Bruce had lived in Abilene since March of 1959, when he joined the staff of the Reporter-News as a general assignments reporter. During his 39-year career, he served for 25 years as travel editor, from March of 1973 until he retired on July 16, 1998. Before his tenure as travel editor, he covered Dyess Air Force Base and the community's military affairs for 12 years as military editor, a period that covered the missile age in Abilene, both the Air Force's Atlas ICBM's and the Army's Nike-Hercules anti-aircraft missiles. He served in several other positions on the newspaper staff, including oil editor, business editor, assistant city editor, political editor, sports writer, police reporter, county courthouse reporter, and three terms as federal court reporter. Mr. Bruce was born Bobby Theo Bruce on May 19, 1934 on his grandmother's farm near Point in Rains County in East Texas. He attended school in Point, Wichita Falls, Garland, Hobbs, New Mexico, and El Dorado, Kansas, before graduating from the University of Kansas in 1957 with a bachelor of science in journalism. After graduation, he served two years in the Army before returning to Texas, living for a brief time in Garland before moving to Abilene. For two years, while working at the paper, he was a member of Abilene's Army Reserve unit, then known as the 490th Civil Affairs Co. He was a member of First Baptist Church, where he served as a deacon. He also was a member of Men's Prayer Breakfast at the church, a former member of the Society of American Travel Writers and was a volunteer for the Retired Senior Volunteer Program. He also served in Big Brothers and Big Sister Lunch Buddy program, being selected as the organization's volunteer of the year in 2006. The same year, he was also selected as the volunteer of the year at Jane Long Elementary School. He married Helen S. Williams on February 6, 1960 at Central Presbyterian Church in Abilene. They met while employees at the Reporter-News, Bob as a reporter and Helen as a bookkeeper. They were introduced by the custodian at the newspaper, the late Earl Jones. He was preceded in death by his parents, Theo and Mary Elizabeth Bruce, in 1940 and 1945, respectively. He was also preceded by an aunt and uncle who raised him after his parents deaths, Ira and Irene Mumm and a brother-in-law, Jack Williams Mr. Bruce is survived by his wife, Helen, of the home; their son, Robert Gregory Bruce of Lubbock; and a sister-in-law, LaVernne Williams of Abilene. Pallbearers will be friends from his days at the Reporter-News: Roy A. Jones II, Charles Richardson, Don Tabor, J. T. Smith, Dick Tarpley, Richard Seaman, Sherwyn McNair, Glenn Dromgoole, Pat Bennett, and Gerald Ewing. Members of the Men's Prayer Breakfast and deacons of First Baptist Church will be honorary pallbearers. The family suggests memorials to First Baptist Church Library Fund.