(Howard) H. Bruce Montgomery passed away peacefully at home April 10. He was born Oct. 13, 1926, in Brooklyn, New York to Howard Montgomery and Catherine Bruce Montgomery.
Bruce was a boy soprano in St. Paul’s church. He sang solos with the men and boys’ choir and performed on WOR radio a few times. His love of music was a theme throughout his life. Music and baseball. His fervent following of the Brooklyn Dodgers transferred to the New York Mets.
His family moved to New Jersey where Bruce graduated from Ridgewood High School. Music and writing were his interests. Right after graduation in 1944, Bruce enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served as a medic in World War II. Grateful for the GI Bill which provided his education at Rutgers University, where his lifelong high school friends also attended, Bruce honed his writing skills. That’s when he met his future bride, Shirley Ann May. Having stayed in the United States Naval Reserve, Bruce was called back to service during the Korean conflict.
Then he was ready to start his career in advertising, writing copy for print ads and commercials, mainly with Bozell Jacobs Kenyon & Eckhardt ad agency. He became a creative head and vice president.
Bruce and Shirley married in 1953, the beginning of a 66-year marriage. Son Richard arrived the next year, followed by Catherine three years later and Stephen three years after that.
Bruce continued lending his tenor voice to Christ Church Choir in Shrewsbury and to a barbershop group, The Bamboo Butlers, which entertained at local nursing homes and events.
Love of sailing was a passion in Bruce’s life. He and Shirley sailed the Two Rivers and eventually sailed to Maine where they investigated inlets along the rockbound coast.
Upon retirement, Bruce and Shirley spent summers at their cottage in Pemaquid, Maine. In fact, the family has spent a portion of the summer for the last 57 years there, with his much-loved grandchildren: Sean, Maria and Owen Montgomery, Angellica and Michelle Taylor, and James and Matthew Montgomery come every summer.
Bruce is survived by his wife Shirley; son Richard (Rebecca Winters); daughter Catherine Taylor (Harold); and son Stephen; a new great-granddaughter Violet Shirely Langen; and his sister, Carol Montgomery Scola.
A memorial service will be scheduled sometime in the future. Memorial donations may be made in Bruce’s honor to the Atlantic Highlands First Aid Squad, 10 East Highlands Ave., Atlantic Highlands, NJ 07716 or Christ Church, 380 Sycamore Ave., Shrewsbury, NJ 07702.
The article originally appeared in the April 30 – May 6, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.
