Bruce Thresher Pierce, 94, of Westport, died Nov. 10 at Miles Memorial Hospital in Damariscotta.
Bruce was born July 10, 1912, the son of Charles Freeman Pierce and Grace Inez Thresher.
After graduating from Hartford Public High School in Hartford, Conn., Bruce entered the U.S. Navy, serving on both the U.S.S. Wright and the U.S.S. Lexington as a radio operator. He attained the rank of Seaman First Class.
Following his honorable discharge from the Navy in 1935, Bruce joined the Aetna Casualty & Surety Company, where he worked as a registered professional safety engineer until his retirement in 1974.
Bruce was a quiet, kind and insightful man with a quick wit. He loved close harmony, anything about the sea, and was an avid reader, naturalist and historian, particularly about the Civil War, in which his maternal grandfather served. He was a Freemason and an Episcopalian, and loved his home on Westport Island, where the Pierce family has lived for many generations.
Bruce leaves behind his wife, Elizabeth Pierce, of Westport Island, whom he married in St. John’s, Newfoundland on Feb. 25, 1942; Bruce and Elizabeth’s only daughter, Susan Lynne of Glastonbury, Conn. and husband John Richard DeMella; Bruce’s first great-grand child, Miles Finley DeMella, born this past October to grandson Matthew Pierce DeMella and wife Miranda Jeanne DeMella in New York City, a second great-grandchild, Julian Pierce DeMella, son of grandson Jonathan Adam DeMella and wife Jennifer Monahan DeMella, is expected this January in Seattle, Wash.; and the families of niece Marian Moriarty and nephew Walter Chudwick of Connecticut, the children of Bruce’s late sister, Ruth Antoinette Schulze.
Services 1:30 p.m., Sat., Nov. 25 at Westport Island Community Church, followed by burial at the Pierce family cemetery on Westport Island. Services will be conducted by Rev. Marcia Richardson.
Donations in Bruce’s memory may be made to the Westport Island Volunteer Fire Department.
Arrangements are under the direction of Coast of Maine Cremation and Funeral Service, Waldoboro.
