Bruce Anderson

BRUCE ANDERSON

Cedar Rapids

Bruce F. Anderson passed away Thursday, Aug. 27, in Sheridan, Wyo. He was 92.

The son of Presbyterian missionaries, the Rev. Howard and Mary Anderson, Bruce was born on Nov. 22, 1922, in Ludhiana, India. He had two brothers, Howard and David, both now deceased. His sister, Faith Gorter, survives him. After graduating from the Woodstock School in Mussoorie, India, he moved to the United States to attend Park College in Kansas City. There he met Mary Louise MacLennan of Sheridan, Wyo. Bruce joined the U.S. Merchant Marines in 1943 and served in Europe during World War II. Bruce and Mary Louise married on Dec. 20, 1944. Mary Louise died Jan. 9, 2003, in Sheridan.

Five children and their spouses and partners survive him, Kathryn (Chris), Peter (Toni), Stewart (Gillian), Tina (Mike) and John (Ann). He is also survived by nine grandchildren, Justin, Carrie, Kevin, Casey, Chad, Emma, Stewart, Megan and Beau; by four great-grandchildren, Averi, Mason, Jordan and Isaac; and by his companion, Christine Valentine.

Although his college education was cut short by military service, Bruce had a long, successful career plying his considerable talents as a writer. He started in the 1940s in broadcast radio, working first at Sheridan's KWYO. After relocating to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he moved into television, spending the largest part of his career at WMT-TV. For 20 years, Bruce held a variety of jobs there. He wrote commercials, developed news, entertainment and documentary programs, did network programming and served as creative director. During the 1960s and 1970s, Bruce also managed the election campaigns of U.S. Representative John Culver. In 1974, he left WMT to become special aide to U.S. Sen. Dick Clark, writing speeches and developing policy. After Clark's defeat in 1978, Bruce co-founded an advertising agency. In the last years before retirement, he served as director of public relations for Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids. He and Mary Louise moved back to Sheridan in 1996. Throughout his life, he was a very active church member, a loving husband and a beloved father.

Bruce was a voracious reader and a prolific writer both on and off the job. While his career as a professional writer enabled him to live a good life and raise a large family, he also wrote for himself and for the larger community. Bruce was the author of editorials published in the Cedar Rapids Gazette, dramatic plays, poetry, memoirs about growing up in India and several unpublished novels. His work reflects his abiding faith as a Christian and a deep, probing interest in the moral and political dimensions of humanity. Those of us who knew him personally knew someone who was very kind, funny, curious, humble, thoughtful and resilient in the face of hardship.

Funeral services will be held at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 2, at First Presbyterian Church, 2121 Colonial Dr., Sheridan, Wyo., with Pastor Doug Melius officiating. A committal will precede the service at 2 p.m. at Sheridan Municipal Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution for the audiobook collection in memory of Bruce, payable to Sheridan County Library Foundation, 335 W. Alger St., Sheridan, WY 82801.

Online condolences may be written at www.championfh.com. Arrangements have been entrusted with Champion Funeral Home.