He was our resident advisor during the 1976–7 term at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. He was also the manager at the freshmen dining hall (McConaughy) that year (and maybe other years). Amazing how he made it seem all so easy. (To top it off, Wesleyan in Connecticut was then regarded as the top small university in the U.S.A., e.g., by Stanley Bosworth).
When I hear something from Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life, I hear Bruce's voice mixed into it. He played that album a lot that year, and his voice had a similar joy in it. “Just an ordinary pain, in your heart...”
The obituary at www.HayesAlumniTrack.org states that he was born on December 31, 1954. The Chicago Tribune obituary is dated February 15, 1985, which was a Friday; it states that he died on Tuesday, which would have been February 12, 1985.
The text and basic html markup of the articles below are copied from the sources.
Chicago Tribune
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1985-02-15/sports/8501090693_1_united-airlines-flight-attendant-memorial-service-mr-hall
https://web.archive.org/web/20160106023600/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1985-02-15/sports/8501090693_1_united-airlines-flight-attendant-memorial-service-mr-hall
www.HayesAlumniTrack.org
http://www.hayesalumnitrack.org/alumni/bruce-hall-obit.html
not there at last look.
Google lists the page as
Bruce Hall '72 Obituary - HayesAlumniTrack.Org
but doesn't have it cached.
https://web.archive.org/web/20141213224827/http://www.hayesalumnitrack.org/alumni/bruce-hall-obit.html
(All archived files from HayesAlumniTrack.org:
https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.hayesalumnitrack.org/* )
BRUCE DENNIS HALL 1954-1985
Bruce Dennis Hall was born December 31, 1954 in New York City, the son of Lillian Jeanette and Theodore Roosevelt Hall. He attended school at Holy Cross Catholic School in the Bronx, New York. He also attended Cardinal Hayes High School where he excelled in his academic as well as athletic endeavors. Upon graduation from high school Bruce attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut where he received his Bachelor’s degree in Sociology. In his senior year at Wesleyan, Bruce attended the University of Madrid in Spain where he began what was to become a lifetime love of Spanish language and culture.
Upon graduation from Wesleyan University in 1977, Bruce began a career in food service management, first in Middletown, Connecticut and later in Amherst, Massachusetts. However, in 1979 Bruce was able to realize a childhood dream when a major airline hired Bruce, trained him as a flight attendant, and domiciled him in Chicago. In his position, Bruce was able to fully apply the personal talents and qualities which we all grew to know and love. In his resume Bruce cited his major responsibility as a flight attendant as one in which he “created and promoted a friendly, safe atmosphere on long and short domestic flights.” For his many friends as well: Bruce always fostered that “friendly, safe atmosphere” with them. Alas, within a year major cutbacks in the airline industry forced Bruce’s leave from active service.
In September of 1983, Bruce was recalled to flying. In September of 1983, Bruce was diagnosed as having Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. His initial four week stay at Northwestern Memorial Hospital that September was to be only one of many such stays both in Chicago and New York. Bruce’s employer’s refusal to reinstate him, when he was well again, was to be only one of many such disappointments. The disease through its long and tortuous course took his body; it never claimed his love, his hope, or his spirit. It is that love, that hope, that spirit that will never truly die.
Bruce never allowed his fatal disease to take his spirit from him. Once, in an interview he made for WNBC-TV in New York, Bruce gave his answer to one question he had a right to ask: WHY ME? “Why me”, he said, “I can answer in one way: God would never give me anything I could not handle.” Bruce’s faith and spirituality carried him through the many difficult times that he was to face during the progress of his illness.
Bruce’s life affected and enriched so many people; your presence here attests to that quality of his sharing. Bruce has always had a deep interest in mankind and the welfare of his fellow man. There was always a firm handshake and a twinkle in his eye, those twinkling eyes had a special charm about them which was magnetic. He was always ready to listen to a good joke, to a friend’s problem and to offer a word of comfort or advice. As his many friends can tell you he would extend himself to do a good deed above and beyond the call of duty. It was his belief that friendship is sharing love and the giving of one’ s self.
After his first hospitalization, Bruce quickly involved himself in helping others similarly afflicted both in Chicago and in New York. He was a living example of the adage “you must give it away if you are to keep it.” In June of 1984, Bruce was able to attend the 3rd National AIDS Forum in New York City. The following is a summary of a British newspaper’ s comment on the New York forum:
Gay men with AIDS have pioneered the new American revolution in a far more positive way than I ever though possible. The man who made more impact on me than anyone else at the conference was Bruce Hall, “Black and proud of it, Gay and proud of it, and a person with AIDS.
Before the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous, there was a group of people who me across the country and called themselves the Oxford Group. This group had four stated principles for guidance of their members. They were:
Absolute Purity
Absolute Honesty
Absolute Unselfishness and
Absolute Love.
These principles were ones that seem to have guided Bruce in his relationship with his God and friends.
Bruce had the strength of Gibraltar, the endurance of the seas, the patience of Job and the love of God. His courage was insurmountable. It is so rare to find an individual who can say,— “I forgive you” after so much hardship has been experienced by them. He was a man larger than life.
www.HayesAlumniTrack.org
"17th Cardinal Hayes Invitational
&
Bronx Catholic High School
Track & Field Championship"
http://hayesalumnitrack.org/2011-meet/2011-web2.pdf
not there at last look.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:AvGY-3jKpOYJ:hayesalumnitrack.org/2011-meet/2011-web2.pdf+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
The Bruce D. Hall Varsity 300 Meter Run
Sponsored by Ramon Alvarez ’73, Larry Kenney ’73, Ed Robinson ’61
Bruce D. Hall '72 was a member of the Hayes Track team for 4 years, a Team Captain in senior year and winner of the Most Improved Junior Award. Bruce came to Hayes from Holy Cross in Soundview. Bruce's brother, Teddy, was a year ahead and may have helped spark Bruce's interest in track. Bruce had become accomplished on the piano and organ in Holy Cross and continued his musical interest in Hayes. Bruce was the first Hayes graduate to attend Wesleyan University where he graduated with a major in Spanish. He pursued various positions in food management, eventually becoming a flight attendant. Bruce contracted pneumonia and passed on February 12, 1985. Bruce was a deeply loving and loved man.
| All Hallows | 3 |
| Archbishop Molloy | 9 |
| Cardinal Hayes | 10 |
| Collegiate | 6 |
| Fordham Prep | 5 |
| Mt. St. Michael | 4 |
| Regis HS | 6 |
| Salesian | 2 |
| St. Francis Prep | 9 |
| St. Raymond’s | 5 |
| Townsend Harris | 2 |
| Xavier | 3 |
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Picture of Bruce Hall in high school
from
https://web.archive.org/web/20110601112638/http://www.hayesalumnitrack.org/old-programs/program-2004.doc
