Monday Morning Musing: In Bruce's Own Words

I’ve written so much about Bruce’s death and my grief. 

But Bruce lived a big life.  And he would have been the last person to tell you about it. 

When he was in the hospital I created a sign that I hung on the door to his room entitled “Meet Bruce Hutson” so those who cared for him could know how much more he was than the damn leukemia.   Then, almost daily I added another small piece of paper that told a story about his life.  How he climbed Mt. Rainier/Tahoma.  How he thought that renting a limo to drive our daughter and her friends through Seattle when she turned 13 was a good idea.  How he traveled with Dale Chihuly.  How he once saw President Clinton jogging around Greenlake and decided to approach him, which the Secret Service was decidedly against. 

And there are more stories.  So many more.

One of them is the story of how, forty- one years ago, on July 7, 1984, Bruce found himself recovering bodies from a horrific and strange boating accident on the Tennessee River just outside of Huntsville, AL. 

Headquartered in Huntsville, SCI Electronics, had purchased a riverboat for use by their employees and in an ironic twist, named it the SCItanic.  On that July day, they had taken 18 people out for a cruise.  Bruce and two friends had planned to waterski that day, but they quickly noticed that the water was very choppy and the skies were darkening so they turned their boat around.  After returning to the marina, they heard a mayday call; the SCItanic had capsized in what would later be identified as a micro-burst. 

Last year, in conjunction with the 40^th anniversary of this accident, that resulted in the loss of eleven lives, Bruce was interviewed by a reporter from WAAY-TV, (Channel 31) in Huntsville.  Here is a link to that interview. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZmf-Oo_sUU

Bruce would speak of this tragedy from time to time, almost always talking about how peaceful those souls looked in death.  And he would remark, as he does in the interview, about how terrible things happen in life, unbidden and unexpected.  Watching this now and hearing his voice brings both great solace and so much admiration for the strength of character and the physical strength it took to tend to these people on that day. 

I wish that we had recorded him telling all of the “Bruce stories” in his repertoire. Most are not this heart wrenching and almost all of them give a glimpse into the remarkable man I love still. 

It also makes my heart glad to watch and listen to him offer something of ‘our story’ in this interview.  I think it was his favorite story of them all.  I know it’s mine. 

This is a still shot from the interview, which is linked above. He was so pleased to be able to share about the events of that day, and, true to form, credited others before taking any credit himself.