This is Bruce, Mother's brother. Not sure how much I've told you about him. He was short, fiesty and strong. He worked hard all his life. He had a cleaners in Reedley and I think did ok. I think he ended his life in Berkeley where he had another cleaners. Our family, particularly Dad and his family, was always very judgmental about Bruce. He drank and I think he smoked. At some point, he and his wife broke up and we all knew it was because of his carousing. I was not so much a part of that because I drank too and Bruce, Allyn and I used to drink quite a bit together. I did not make it to his funeral. The last time I saw him I think was at Mother's funeral.
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I lived in Reedley where to the old timers there, Bruce's toughness and fights in high school were legendary. He was short and tough.
Our family took a pit bull terrier dog named Duke that Bruce wanted to get rid of. The dog was exceptionally large and when he stretched out, it amazed Mother who commented that she felt safe with that dog around.
Bruce was in the service during WW II where he drove a tank and saw action in Italy I believe under General Patton, whom he liked a lot. I also should mention that he would always come back to base late and was arrested and spent time in the military jail for punishment and then put back into action.
Bruce was always playing jokes on Nana and Aunt Maude. When Nana was not there, I remember talk about how one night he went around to the windows of the house and rattled them and "talk" Chinese. Allyn told me that Aunt Maude had a civil war pistol, and she sat on the sofa with that pistol on her lap waiting to shoot the intruder. Happily, it didn't come to that.
When I was younger than 5 years old, we lived on K Street in Dinuba. Mother and Dad, I believe, were at the First Baptist Church at Wednesday night prayer meeting and choir practice following. Dad was the choir director and Mother was the pianist/organist. A babysitter was watching me. I don't know where Rollie was, and I don't remember him being there that night. Once again, Bruce rattled the windows and started his Chinese 'talk". This scared the babysitter so much, in a state of tears she was able to contact Mother and Dad who came home and helped her.
Another time when we had a family get together and Nana and Aunt Maude's, maybe Thanksgiving. Bruce left for the House of Chung which was a Chines restaurant in Reedley's Chinatown, and at that time had a band and dance floor. We were all in our early twenty's, I think. Probably, an hour later, Tom, Susan's husband, Allyn, Rollie and I decided to follow Bruce to the House of Chung. He was dancing with a kind of attractive young blond woman named Myrtle who stood about six feet tall. I later found out that this woman had the nickname of "fertile Myrtle". Well, Bruce was no taller than 5'4" or so and his face reached Myrtle's boobs. He and Myrtle danced by us young men, and Bruce winked at us and mimed chewing on Myrtle's breast, and kept on dancing. Myrtle loved it.
One further anecdote. I went to see Bruce at his cleaners in Berkeley. He wanted me to wait for him to finish work, and then we would go to the race track. He worked so fast that I believe he finished a day's work that morning, and we spent the afternoon at the race track. He seemed to have known the horses, and I followed his suggestions. I started with $20 and would bet to show in $2 increments. I had only $2 left. He told me to bet on this certain horse to win, because he knew the horse would win the whole thing. I did as suggested. When the race began, the horse did no break away from the start and stood there. By the time that horse began to run, he was at least 100 yards behind the pack. But he run fast, caught the pack and the lead horse at the finish line and lost by a nose.
I will stop there with my comments.
The last post was from Larry
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