April 23, 2023

This is hard. My brother-in-law, Stephan Bruce, Elizabeth’s big brother, died yesterday [Saturday, April 22]  at his home in Fairfax Station, Virginia. It might’ve been an aneurysm.

The photo shows Steve during his retirement ceremony from the Navy. We were there, in Virginia.

He graduated from the Naval Academy with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering and from the Darden School, University of Virginia, with a Master’s in Business. He became, among other executive jobs—the man was a natural leader– the marketing director for Kraft Foods

During his plebe year at the Academy, he was lucky enough to inherit a bunk bed with an empty bunk. Because upperclassmen dropped half-dollars atop the bunk to see how tightly it’d been made and were merciless in assigning demerits if it didn’t bounce high enough, Steve slept in the top bunk in the sleeping bag he’d brought from home in California. The bottom bunk remained pristine.

It was perhaps the best-made rack in U.S. Naval Academy history.

He was a brilliant guy, a devout Catholic, tough and hard-headed, just like his dad, Gail, the 49er. I loved both men. Steve loved our son John.

My big brother, Bruce, loves our Thomas in much the same way.

I did not realize until I wrote a book on World War II fliers how dangerous military aviation can be. Steve survived two helicopter crashes–equipment failures–flying Navy Sea Stallions.

But my favorite Steve story came when he was piloting a Sea Stallion and it was time for lunch. The Navy, normally known for pretty good chow, had issued Steve and his crew the worst sandwiches in Western history. When they unwrapped the cellophane, the smell began filling the flight cabin. It was ghastly.

A Russian “trawler” was shadowing Steve’s carrier group in the Mediterranean Sea. So he flew low over the trawler, the Russians and the Americans waving merrily at each other. Or, more likely, making internationally recognized hand gestures at each other.

Then he made another pass. This time, the Americans threw their sandwiches at the Russians. Lunch landed with dreadful ptomaine splats on the trawler’s deck.

Yup. He got chewed out by the Admiral Commanding, up one side and down the other. But I do, especially given current events, love that story.

We will miss him so much.


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April 25, 2023


I did love my brother-in-law, Steve, who died Saturday at his home in Fairfax Station, Virginia.

He loved history, so I added a little local Naval lore, too.

When Steve attended the funeral of a Naval Academy classmate at Annapolis, he changed his mind. He had planned on burial at Arlington, but the Academy cemetery moved him so much that he decided this was where he wanted to be laid to rest.

That was a couple of weeks ago.

So, the video is for Steve, because when I started researching that cemetery and discovered the company that he’ll keep–his forever shipmates–I understood his decision.