Individual Details

The Kansas City Star, Kansas City, Missouri, Tuesday, December 7, 1999: Betty Louise Bruce, 82, Gardner, KS, passed away Sunday, December 5, 1999, at Good Samaritan Center, Olathe, KS. Funeral services will be 1 p.m. Wednesday, December 8, 1999, at Bruce Funeral Home, Gardner, KS; burial in Gardner Cemetery. Mrs. Bruce will lie in state 2-6 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home, where the visitation will be 6-8:30 p.m. Memorial contributions may be made to the Johnson County Community College Scholarship Foundation for high school students from Gardner, Edgerton, Spring Hill, or De Soto, KS, to attend JCCC. Mrs. Bruce was born in Fort Scott, KS, on July 16, 1917. She grew up in Fort Scott, and moved to Gardner from Wilson, KS, in 1949. She was a licensed funeral director and co-owned Bruce Funeral Home, Gardner and Spring Hill, KS, and Bruce Furniture Store, Gardner, with her husband, Roy Bruce, and family since 1949. She retired in 1995. From 1946-1949, she and Roy owned and operated a funeral home and furniture store in Wilson, KS. She was also an antique dealer who specialized in Depression Glass. She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, Gardner, KS. She was also a member of Kansas Funeral Directors, National Funeral Directors, past secretary and treasurer of K.C. Horseless Carriage Club, past president of the Shoebuttoners, K.C., member of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Olathe, KS, and an avid genealogist. She was a graduate of Fort Scott High School and Fort Scott Junior College. She married Roy Otto Bruce on November 19, 1939, in Fort Scott; he preceded her in death on February 24, 1993. She was also preceded in death by her parents, Virgil newton Briggs and Laura Mae Decker Briggs, and sister, Marjorie Key. She is survived by her son, Larry R. Bruce & wife Betsy, Overland Park, KS; daughter, Shirley J. Brown Van Arsdale & husband, Lonnie, Gardner, KS; four grandchildren, Keith Bruce, Brad Bruce, Scott Brown, and Shane Brown; four step grandchildren, Mike Van Arsdale, Brad Van Arsdale, Chris Tschirhart, and David Tschirhart; and four great grandchildren. (Arrangements: Bruce Funeral Home, Gardner, KS).

Birth	16 Jul 1917	Fort Scott, Bourbon Co., Kansas
Residence	1925	Fort Scott, Bourbon Co., Kansas
Marriage	19 Nov 1939	Fort Scott, Bourbon Co., Kansas - Roy Otto Bruce
Death	5 Dec 1999	Olathe, Johnson Co., Kansas
Race		White
Burial		Gardner Cemetery, Gardner, Johnson Co., Kansas

Spouse	Roy Otto Bruce (1913 - 1993)
Child	Larry Roy Bruce ( - )
Child	Shirley Jean Bruce ( - )

Father	Virgil Newton Briggs (1890 - 1967)
Mother	Laura May Decker (1891 - 1978)
Sibling	Marjorie Leigh Briggs (1920 - 1989)