Obituaries

Coralie V. Bruce, 79, of Sault Ste. Marie, has died after an extended illness.

Though she grew up in Chicago, Coralie was born in the Sault and spent most of her childhood summers here with her mother Beatrice M. Bruce (nee Rogers/Cardellino), visiting her maternal grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins on both sides of the river. She attended high school at an all-girls boarding school in Iowa, then trained as a radiology tech before working at a number of hospitals, clinics and free-standing x-ray centers in the Chicago metro area. She spent a long stint covering graveyard shifts for the emergency room at Swedish Covenant Hospital, and often joked that she “never really got off that shift”. She lived the rest of her life sleeping mostly in the daytime and staying up all night.

In the early 80s, two unrelated but closely timed events changed her life. First, she seriously injured her back, necessitating a career change since she could no longer safely lift and position patients. Second, she met Mary June Bartlett, who would become her life companion and eventually, her spouse.

Coralie spent a few years as a travel agent, but the increasing power of the internet convinced her that would not be a long-lived option. By this time, she and Mary June owned a home together in the western Chicago suburbs, so she took a position as a local school bus driver. It was a perfect occupation for Coralie – she loved the company of children ... and she could sleep between her morning and afternoon runs. She was infamous as the driver who led singalongs and call-and-response games with the kids on her routes.

In the late 90s, Coralie became “Auntie Cor” to her brother’s two boys. She and Mary June were avid RVers, and often took the boys along on trips to state parks and regional attractions, sometimes just for a weekend but often for a week or two. Those trips and their other excursions were such fun that she and Mary June began to talk about traveling the country full-time in a bigger, better RV. In 2002, they bought a new truck and big fifth wheel, emptied and sold their house, and hit the road.

Over the next eight years, the two visited every state (and every relative) in the lower 48, as well as most of Canada and several spots in Mexico. The Sault was an annual summer stop and eventually, they bought a house here as a “home base” and continued as snowbirds. Family frequently met them for the holidays in warm spots from Las Vegas to Tampa. When Coralie’s brothers and nephews also moved to Sault Ste. Marie from Chicago, Coralie’s home became the traditional gathering place for holidays and other family events.

Coralie spent her last day eating, laughing, loving and story-telling in the company of her family – wife Mary June, brothers Michael Abruscato and Thomas Bruce, nephew James Abruscato and his wife Hannah, nephew Joseph Abruscato and his wife Belinda together with their children Jaden, Carmella and Mario, goddaughter Lucynda Vigneaux, as well as other friends and family. She declared it a perfect day.

A memorial mass will be held at 11:00 AM on Wednesday, April 26, 2023, at St. Joseph Catholic Church. Friends may gather at the church that same day, starting at 10:00 AM.

Please make donations in Coralie’s name to the MyMichigan Health Foundation (https://www.mymichigan.org/about/donations/online-giving/).