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Folks who knew Cut Off native Eddie Bruce loved him – he was the type of guy who always made a positive impact and impression on everyone he met.
He was a loving husband and father. Eddie married wife Dora in 1968, a 47-year bond that she said was filled with love until his last day. The couple shared two biological children (son James and daughter Stacie) but later adopted and raised two grandchildren (Dallas and Reagan) when Stacie was killed in a wreck in 1998, leaving behind her two children.
Eddie was a businessman – first an accountant and then later an insurance agent. A community man to the core, he was a two-term Justice of the Peace in Lafourche Parish – a man who also served on boards for the Cut Off Youth Center, Tidelands Country Club and Nicholls State University.
And when enjoying leisure time, Eddie was arguably the biggest LSU fan on Louisiana’s bayous – an active booster to Tigers athletics who bled purple and gold to his core.
Eddie passed away on Nov. 23, 2015 after a lengthy fight with Parkinson’s disease. He was 71.
His closest family and friends remember the good times and all of the warm, loving energy that the man gave to others throughout his life.
His wife said he was a gem on earth who is now in Heaven.
“Eddie and I were both passionate in our views, but very much in love until the day he died,” Dora said. “God gave us the opportunity to spend these last months of his life together reminiscing about all of our married life, and we were both satisfied and at peace.”
Eddie was a military man in his younger days. He got married while a member of the armed forces – near the peak of the Vietnam Conflict. He was a Medic in the military and served in Germany during his tour.
Upon completion of duty, Eddie received an honorable discharge. From there, he completed his degree in business administration at the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now UL-Lafayette) and got into the working world.
Eddie was first an accountant, building his own office in 1975, just three years after graduation. He then got an itch for service and won two-straight Justice of the Peace elections. During his terms, Bruce had an open-door, 24-hour policy.
“People could come at any hour if they were in need – to either our home our office,” Dora said. “Often, he would leave the house around 1 or 2 a.m. for anyone who was in need of his services.”
After his work as justice of the peace, Bruce got into insurance – the occupation he held for the rest of his life.
First an independent agent, then later affiliated with Prudential for many years, Eddie was successful at each endeavor along the way. Today, Eddie’s business foundation, Bruce Insurance Agency, is still in operation as an independent insurance agency. It is run by his longtime employee Jessica Vegas.
She operates the company on the same principles Eddie founded it on – people first, profit second.
“His philosophy was always do what is in the best interest of his client,” Dora said. “We had a discussion about this, and Eddie was committed to putting the best interest of his clients before any sales commissions, and that’s the truth. His success was in that he was a good listener, and he was very thoughtful. He treated all people like he wanted to be treated, and his word was his bond.”
As a dad, Dora said Eddie loved unconditionally. He coached his kids in their sporting endeavors, and taught them life lessons. In 1998, and at age 54, the couple had to become mom and dad again to raise Dallas and Reagan, who were both toddlers when their mom Stacie was killed.
The mom said she remembers a lesson that Eddie taught to Dallas after a tough sporting defeat.
“Dallas said to him, ‘I quit. I can’t do this,’” Dora said. “And Eddie’s response was ‘Never say that you can’t do something.’”
Dallas didn’t give up and kept pushing forward in his sport.
Then there was LSU athletics – a huge slice of Eddie’s life.
Eddie loved all sports – dating back to when he was a basketball player at Larose-Cut Off High School. But it was something about the pageantry of LSU that got his juices flowing. He was a contributor to the Tiger Athletic Foundation (TAF), and the family would routinely attend LSU football games together – both home and away – each fall.
He loved the Tigers, and Dora remembers his whole routine – studying the team’s schedule and planning all of the trips every summer in anticipation for the upcoming season.
This past year marked 20 years he and the family gave back to the school’s athletic department, and he was invited to walk the field in Tiger Stadium before LSU’s season-opening game against McNeese State this past autumn.
But with Parkinson’s complications, Eddie hasn’t been able to walk since April of 2007. On this night, he didn’t miss out, because heavy rain canceled the contest, which didn’t allow any of TAF’s 20-year contributors to be honored.
Dora said the game’s cancellation was a sign of God’s love toward her husband, who would have loved to be on the Baton Rouge grass on that day to watch his beloved Tigers.
“God must have known,” she said of the game and Eddie’s inability to be there.
Eddie was given a military funeral, and as his casket was rolled out to his place of burial, the LSU fight song played in honor of his love for the school.
“What a nice touch,” Dora said.
