R. Bruce Brumbaugh | News, Sports, Jobs

He married Patricia L. Gery on June 22, 1963 in Harrisburg.

Bruce was a graduate of Phillips Andover Academy, Princeton University and Dickinson School of Law, and was admitted to the practice of law in 1960 by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and the Blair County Courts. As a lawyer, he chose to be a sole proprietorship. while maintaining its office in downtown Altoona. During the first two years after his admission to the bar, he was a business law instructor at the former Altoona School of Commerce and served as law clerk for Blair County President Judge John M. Klepser in the 1960s. From 1960 to 1980, he was in a general practice with an emphasis on real estate law, including four years as Special Assistant Attorney General for the Pennsylvania Department of Forests & Waters, and twelve years as an attorney, first for Kittanning Building and Loan Association. , and then for Reliance Savings Association. During this time, he served for many years on the Altoona Zoning Hearing Board and as chairman for several terms, at times also serving as counsel for both the Altoona and Logan Township Zoning Hearing Boards.

He was elected to the bench in 1979 and served a ten-year term as a judge on the Blair County Court of Common Pleas during the 1980s. He returned to private practice in 1990, concentrating on family law and estates until his retirement in November 2008.

During his school years, he was a violinist and concertmaster for the orchestras of All-City Elementary School and Keith Junior High School. In the mid-1940s, he was a junior member of the Altoona Symphony Orchestra and performed as a soloist at various church, community, and social events.

Bruce was an accomplished tennis and table tennis player. He held the Altoona boys and then the Junior Tennis Championships in the 1940s, captained the varsity at Andover and was a member of both his college and military teams. He was undefeated at the National Intercollegiate Table Tennis Tournament while captaining the Princeton team in 1950, and was the 8th Army/Far East Table Tennis champion, first in singles and then in doubles in 1954 and 1955, while stationed in Okinawa during a three-year tour of duty. with the United States Army Security Agency. Both as a youth and as an adult, he won several table tennis titles locally, the last of which was the 1979 Altoona Recreation Commission Men's Championship.

Bruce was active in York Rite Freemasonry and was a Worshipful Master of Logan Lodge No. 490 in 1967, Most Excellent High Priest of Mountain Royal Arch Chapter No. 189 in 1972, and both three-time Illustrious Master of Mountain Council No. 9 and District Alternate Grand High Priest of the Grand Holy Royal Arch Chapter of Pennsylvania in 1979.

For ten years, from 1969 to 1979, he was director of the Twentieth Masonic District School of Instruction. He was also a former member of both the Jaffa Shrine and the Royal Order of Jesters.

Initially a member, chorister, deacon and Sunday school teacher of the First Presbyterian Church in Altoona, he later joined the Fairview United Methodist Church, where he served variously on the board of directors and as a trustee, youth leader, lay reader and Sunday school teacher and as all Choir member for 30 years.

He is survived by his wife of 61 years; five children: Jill D. of Altoona, Mark S. and wife, Amy of Oakmont, Grant M. and wife, Corilee of Altoona, Brad J. and wife, Christy of Altoona, and Jolene MS of Altoona; seven grandchildren: Heather, Emily (David) Tini, Joshua, Sarah, Isaac, Ben and Zachary; and two great-granddaughters, Josie and Kennedy.

He was preceded in death by his brother, Robert B., in 2001.

Friends will be received from 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m. and from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. on Friday, June 28, 2024 at Mauk & Yates Funeral Home Inc., 719 N. Fourth Ave., Altoona, where a memorial service will immediately follow at 6:00 p.m. with Pastor David Brumbaugh and Pastor Frederick Hickok officiating. Burial will be in Alto-Reste Park.

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