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“Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?” - Robert Browning
Bernadette Mary Michaeline Bruno passed peacefully, surrounded by family, on February 10, 2024. She was born in 1934 in Chicago to John and Stephanie Drumke, the oldest of their three children. For her nearly 90 year adventure, she had a heart like a truck. It needed a few repairs, but lasted 300,000 plus miles.
“Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?” Bernadette lived Robert Browning’s words.
She grew up on the south side of Chicago attending Five Holy Martyrs grammar school and Holy Family Academy High School. Her father worked hard at Crane (steel) Company and liked to fish. Her mother was a homemaker, great cook and bookkeeper. They harmonized beautifully.
Bernadette read voraciously, a great solace throughout her life. In her mid-thirties, she started a list of the books she had read - it exceeded 1,200. Her favorite book was Clair Huffaker's "The Cowboy and the Cossack and her favorite author, Janice Holt Giles. She passed on her love of books to her young daughter by reading Marguerite Henry's thrilling horse books aloud before bedtime - a wonderful time for them both.
As a girl, she learned to sew in order to make her own nice clothes. She gladly sewed for the nuns when asked. She could not have imagined the future when she would mend numerous pairs of her sons' jeans for years, happily. Until her last days she would reach for her old Singer sewing machine to delight in adding a pocket, a peplum, pleats, piping or lace to a new blouse or skirt. Bernadette put something of herself into every aspect of her life. She dreamed of designing dresses. Growing up, Sunday might see her family enjoying the Art Institute of Chicago or fishing. She danced whenever possible including the summer square dances at the St. James Carnival.
When she graduated, she got a good job as a stenographer in the People’s Gas Light and Coke Company on Michigan Avenue where her first boss, Mr. Beaumont, often bounded into the office saying “It’s a great life, if you don’t weaken!” She and her co-workers watched and cheered the Michigan Avenue parades from office windows. With an income of her own, she frequented the Goodman theatre in Chicago. In years to come, before a play she would say low and mysteriously the words of the playwright Kenneth Sawyer Goodman which she remembered inscribed on the proscenium arch: “You yourself must set flame to the faggots (bundle of sticks for fuel) which you have brought” explaining that we each bring our experience and history to the theatre with us. With her friend Rosemary, she saw Yul Brynner glide across the stage to "Shall We Dance" in "The King and I". Wherever she lived, she found the local theatre; later becoming a long time member of the wonderful Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center.
Those who knew Bernadette may have thought she would marry a local man and stay in Chicago. Soon after she started working, Bernadette was paired with John Blake Bruno at a 1953 wedding. To get to know each other while he was in ROTC, they wrote love letters and he drove from St. Paul to Chicago in his convertible to see her on weekends. She must have known that in marrying Blake she was reaching for change. Six years after a big 1956 Polish wedding and three moves (Texas, Minnesota and Ohio), their caravan included four children. Now they all headed West!
Bernadette and Blake embraced parenthood including making flashcards fun, family movie or game nights, attending many of their sons’ basketball games, encouraging avocations and vocations and listening. Bernadette created many traditions. St. Nicholas filled stockings on December 6 (his feast day) and baby Jesus was ceremoniously placed in the manger on Christmas Eve while we all sang "Silent Night". She also made sure we all watched Jimmy Stewart in "It's a Wonderful Life." Only her daughter watched this favorite movie with her every year because she loved it just as much.
Finding herself in Tucson, AZ, Bernadette embraced the west. She joined a horseback riding club. She found the Ah Wilderness Guest Ranch outside Durango Colorado, which was a truly memorable two weeks of horseback riding and Rocky Mountain adventure along the Animas River for her young family. It was accessible only by the Narrow-gauge Railway. To christen their next move their neighbor Mrs. Johnson made Baked Alaska. Blake and the boys drove the Alcan Highway in a 1961 "Old Grey" Cadillac. Bernadette and her daughter flew. Once there, they snowmobiled, ice skated and enjoyed a new kind of wilderness.
Next, she motivated her family to learn transcendental meditation in the high desert of Apple Valley, California. Apple Valley in the 1970's was a tough three year assignment, with one main street, whose claim to fame was Roy Roger's museum. It followed one year in Colorado and Colorado was calling Bernadette home. Finally in 1976, she and Blake retired to Colorado Springs.
Through those military moves and when their children were young, Blake had encouraged her to explore art. She reached first for a palette knife, then china painting, and finally watercolor brushes. Together they danced, fished, relished family meals like her lasagna and his Swiss steak, attended live theatre and most of all enjoyed raising their children. When their youngest child was in high school and the rest in college, Bernadette reached out again by returning to school at 44 to become first an LPN and then an RN on the Penrose Cardiac Floor. The years had flown. Bernadette said she always knew that together she and Blake could do anything; then in 1983, days before Christmas, Blake died suddenly. Bernadette was 49 years young.
As her sophomore English teacher, Sister Mary Edith, had said “Time is a Gypsy Caravan - it waits for no man.” Bernadette grieved, read, prayed and reached out again. On summer evenings she helped teach square dancing at Bancroft Park; in autumn, waltz lessons to Air Force Academy Cadets; all year she took and gave dance lessons at the Senior Center. Life expanded when she joined the Broadmoor Waltz Club, Mountain Swingers, Waggin Wheelers, Shady Rounders, Lariats and Country Squires. Many lasting friendships began. She danced on the Royal Gorge Bridge and on top of Pikes Peak. She said if you think dancing is not exercise, Polka for three hours!
Bernadette passionately loved Colorado with its beautiful Rocky Mountains and sunshine. For one special week each June and September for 40 years, Cloud Watcher (her fisher-person name) drove over Wilkerson Pass to the place she loved best - Rainbow Lake Resort. There she took respite beneath Mt. Yale with the wild roses, hummingbirds, rainbow trout, and her family. Kitty and Freddie, the caretakers, became part of her family too.
Bernadette is survived by her hearts that walk around outside of her, as she called her children: Kevin (Robin Wagner) Bruno, Colorado Springs, CO; Keith (Delia) Bruno, Phoenix, AZ; Kurt (Kathleen) Bruno Valencia, CA; Mary (Mark) Snyder, Castle Rock, CO; and her siblings: Therese Mnichowicz, Jack Drumke. She was preceded in death by Blake in 1983.
Bernadette’s last years were reflective relying on her lifetime devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Anthony and Michael the Archangel. The last years were also made special by many. Cherished friends and neighbors came with beautiful roses of every hue, delicious Polish dinners, delightful conversations and much needed help at a moment’s notice. Her Holy Trinity Parish family brought the Holy Eucharist and the spirit of community and faith. Calls from friends and relatives brightened her days. Pikes Peak Hospice, BEO Personal Care and Griswold Home Care provided the kind and expert attention needed so that Bernadette was able to stay in the home she loved. We are forever grateful to you all.
Bernadette and Blake's children often thought they were like Laura and Rob Petrie on the old Dick Van Dyke show. They had a marriage of equals. They made decisions together, big and small. Blake said Bernadette was the most sophisticated women he had ever met. He met her when she was only 19. Bernadette's first impression of Blake was that he was gallant. He never forgot a birthday or anniversary; he warmed up the car and he held open every door. His sons learned by great example.
The young girl who learned to sew was always well dressed, even for yard work. Strangers would stop to tell her how nice she looked. She brushed it off saying they were just being kind. In her mind, she just dressed for life and life was a daily celebration. Frequently when she was at the theatre, dining out or grocery shopping she would bump into friends; so many good friends out there. Sometimes they thanked her for teaching them to dance or they remembered her from nursing at the hospital or the Senior Center painting classes or they saw her every week at mass. You and your lives and your families were important to her.
Bernadette would say too, when you can, hear the music and dance. “The 21-year study of senior citizens, 75 and older, led by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, funded by the National Institute of Aging and published in the New England Journal of Medicine found the only physical activity to offer protection against dementia (76% reduced risk) was frequent dancing.”
To our parents, Bernadette and Blake, you gave us everything we needed: your valuable time, your unfailing encouragement and your love in abundance.
Isc z bogiem. My cie kochamy. [Be with God. We love you.]
Never pass up an opportunity to be kind. In Bernadette’s memory, please do an act of kindness.
Memorial Service for Bernadette Bruno will take place on March 13th, 2024 at Holy Trinity Catholic Church located at 3122 Poinsetta Dr, Colorado Springs, CO 80907.
The Rosary will begin at 10:30AM, with Mass to follow at 11:00AM. Bernadette will be laid to rest at Evergreen Cemetery at a later date.
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