Bruce, standing, is seen photographing the action at the 2000
NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion, Famoso Raceway, Bakersfield.
Born in Miami, Florida in February, 1941, Bruce was raised in Chevy
Chase, Maryland
and around the greater Washington, D.C. area. Within a year after his
graduation from
high school, in 1960, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. Attaining
the rank of Sergeant,
he was an airframe systems repairman on B-52 bombers and KC-135 in-flight
tankers
while stationed at the now-defunct Dow Air Force Base, near Bangor,
Maine.
Upon leaving the service in December, 1965, Bruce continued to pursue
his interest
in the sport of drag racing, a pastime he had taken up some years earlier
(in 1957).
His paternal grandmother, Nellie Rose Wheeler, passed away in
late 1964, and with
the inheritance Bruce received from her estate, he purchased the first
of two Wheeler
Dealer
AA/Fuel Dragsters, in November of '66. With professional drivers Al
Friedman
(1967 Rookie of the Year)
and
"Bub" Reese driving for him, Bruce's cars became crowd
favorites on the East Coast fuel dragsters racing circuit.
Bruce subsequently "retired" from his pro drag racing career in mid
1969 - selling his second
Wheeler Dealer car along with all of its parts and equipment
- excepting the tow truck, a '67
1/2-ton Chevy Suburban wagon which he converted into a camper with
four inches of foam
rubber in the back for a mattress, and colorful Indian-print curtains
hung in the rear windows.
Bruce was married in June, 1968. He and his bride, Bobbie, spent the
better part of a two months' honeymoon traveling throughout much
of western Europe in a new, plastic flower-bedecked VW fastback.
In August, 1969 Bruce and Bobbie attended the famed Woodstock Music
Festival in
upstate New York, an event which brought about some sudden changes
to their lifestyles.
After vacating the Northwest Washington apartment they were renting,
in November
of '69, Bruce, Bobbie and their newly acquired dachshund puppy, Durgin,
moved into
a quaint farmhouse in rural Northern Virginia, near the village of
Delaplane, in the
foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains some 55 miles west of downtown
D.C.
Bruce remained down on the farm after he and Bobbie separated, in February,
1970.
In May he sustained moderate injuries in a freak motorcycle accident
close to home.
After two long months of recovery, Bruce embarked on what he described
at the time
as his "Discover America Tour," heading in a westerly direction from
his Virginia home,
in mid July. This trip saw him and his trusty sidekick, Durgin,
traveling through most
of the western States and British Columbia, Canada in the Suburban
camper. Highlights
of the trip included visits to Taos, NM, Yellowstone National
Park, Seattle, Vancouver
and Victoria, B.C., Portland, Oregon, San Francisco, Berkeley, Monterey,
the greater
Los Angeles area, Las Vegas, Provo, Utah and Aspen, Colorado.
The long journey
finally concluded upon his return to his Virginia farmhouse, in late
October, 1970.
Within a month Bruce moved back to "The City", settling into a modest
apartment
in Alexandria, Va., a place that was to be his final residence in the
Washington area.
Not long after selling his second race car Bruce became involved with
Washington's
growing hippie community, and this led to his association with a fledgling
"underground"
newspaper, the
Quicksilver Times.
As the de facto publisher of this publication, Bruce was able to use
his various connections to
develop friendships within the local rock music scene. One such
development led to his doing a
tour with Edgar Winter's popular "White Trash" band, as an aide
to the group's road manager.
This eventually led to another roadie job with the eclectic East Coast
group, SeaTrain,
in November, 1971. This association required a move north to the Boston
area, where
the band was based. Bruce settled into a cozy 18th century cottage
in an older section
of Marblehead, Mass. After a little less than a year with SeaTrain,
Bruce left the group
and moved west to the "City by the Bay," San Francisco, in November,
1972.
Upon his arrival in the Bay Area, Bruce attempted to find another roadie
gig, preferably
with a major band, but nothing substantial materialized. In need of
a steady paycheck,
he took a job with a local record store chain, Record Factory. While
with that company
he became the manager of one of their downtown stores, eventually being
"let go"
some three years later.
He then worked briefly for another Northern California record
store chain, Odyssey
Records, and then as a merchandiser for a large, independent record
distributor. This
led to his being hired by a major New York-based record company,
Arista
Records, as
their Northern California marketing & promotions
manager. After six years with Arista,
the company made a business decision to close their San Francisco office,
and Bruce, along
with his girlfriend (and soon-to-be second wife) Kolleen Flaherty,
made the decision to
move to beautiful Maui, Hawai'i. They arrived on Maui's golden shores
for good on the
15th of March, 1983.
After working at several jobs each, Bruce and Kolleen launched their
own company,
Angelica Gift & Fruit Baskets, in 1988. It was a business
that they would be totally
consumed by until its eventual sale 11-years later, just before Christmas
1999.
In June, 1996, Kolleen became an ordained minister which allowed her
to form
her weddings ministry,
All
Ways Maui'd Weddings & Ceremonies, a short while
later. With the sale of the basket business concluded, Bruce launched
the Seventh
Wave Emporium of Hawai'i, an online entity created to help market
his extensive
collection of vintage rock music and 20th century pop collectibles.
With now-Reverend Kolleen's
ministry beginning to show its potential, Bruce "volunteered"
to become the company's in-house
photographer. Drawing upon his years of experience
as an award-winning photo
hobbyist, Bruce was revitalized, and he promptly set about
making his Seventh
Wave PhotoGraphics the
success that it is today.
Bruce, 2003
Return to ...
All
Ways Maui'd Weddings
Page design...
Seventh
Wave PhotoGraphics
Top photo courtesy of "Pete" Garramone,
the bottom photo by George Adams.
(c) 2001, All Rights Reserved
- Page Revised 01.23.07
-