Loretta Young Bruce

Loretta Blenn (Young) Bruce, age 86, of Greenbrier, Tennessee, went into the presence of her Savior on November 3, 2023. Mrs. Bruce was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming on February 15, 1937 to Elmer and Zora Young. After graduating from Cheyenne High School, she went on to study at Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina where she met her husband, John Frank Bruce of Eatonton, Georgia. She graduated with a degree in education in 1959 and married that same year. Frank and Loretta went on to have two children, Brent Milan and Brian Scott Bruce.

 In 1964, the couple moved to Nashville, Tennesse when a church in the Madison area called Frank to be their pastor. A year later, he, with a group of other men, started Calvary Bible Church. From 1967-69 Mrs. Bruce took an elementary teaching position at Bellshire Elementary School. It was during this time that she and her husband felt called to start a Christian school in the area, so in 1969, Pioneer Christian Academy was founded. Dr. and Mrs. Bruce dedicated their lives to this ministry for thirty-three years.

The Bruces retired in 2002 and moved to Eatonton, Georgia where they lived for sixteen years. In 2018, they returned to Tennessee to be near their sons, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

Loretta is preceeded in death by her husband, John Frank Bruce and her parents, Elmer and Zora Young. She is survived by her sister, Bertha Hawk (Thomas) of Pennsylvania, her sons Brent (Patricia) and Brian (Pamela), nine grandchildren— Shaun Durden, Ashton Lee (Michael), Zachary Bruce (Morgan), Benjamin Bruce (Nicole), Kaitlyn Ramirez (Chris), Ethan Bruce (Ashley), Lauren Durden, Bailey Godfrey (Kyle), and Autumn Bruce, and 16 great grandchildren.

 Her life verse was Proverbs 3:5-6. “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”