Tara Munro

I'd like to share a personal story with you about Robert. The entire town of Seward, Alaska, knew him as "Spaceman Bruce". In the late 70's, my mother was a "jailer" at the tiny police department in Seward. There were only 3 jail cells. Not only were the majority of the residents of Seward were very caring toward Bruce, the local law enforcement folks were caring as well. At times during the winte...r, police officers would bring Bruce to the jail to "thaw out," so to speak. You see, Bruce would not wear shoes. Folks would give him brand new pairs of shoes or boots and he would tie them together and throw them over his shoulder and continue to walk along barefoot, even in the dead of winter. He lived 3 miles outside of town in an unheated quanset hut with no water and he would walk in several feet of snow along the railroad tracks back and forth to town. Bruce didn't seem to mind his time at the city jail, usually no more than 24 hours at a time and my mother came to know him well by his visits to the jail. He had certain ways of doing things, would only eat certain foods and my mother enjoyed conversations with him. She would come home and relay his stories to me and we thought him to  be a wise, kind and gentle man. During the summer months, Bruce would occaisionally sit on the lawn in front of the First National Bank in downtown Seward, with a group teens, sometimes I played guitar and we all sang. The photo taken of Bruce in front of the First National Bank sign as he was walking down the street (posted on your page and in my story of Bruce), was on such a day and is my last memory of him before I moved away. He had a way of bringing people together, taught us tolerance and there was something special about him that was engrained in the minds and hearts of those who took the time to get to know him. He was an amazing man and his legend will live on.