Bruce Twiss Found His Purpose While Still a Child: Save Others

Bruce Twiss, TriUU’s vice president and leader of the Building and Grounds Team, was once required by his employer to take a personality profile test. The results: ”Perfectionist.” Ironically, this assessment brought criticism from his superiors on the job, but he happily accepted it. He saw it as recognition of his boyhood resolve to educate himself in a myriad of ways to save people from life’s perils.

At the time he took the test, his responsibilities were to keep a hospital’s medical devices, generators, alarms, and environmental systems in reliable working order.  “You want everything that patients and medical staff depend on to work every time,” he said, “not most of the time.”

Childhood

Bruce was a World War II baby, born in the small blue-collar city of Peabody (“PIbbity”), MA, known for leather processing. His father was a low paid maintenance worker in a tannery; his mother was a homemaker. When the factories shut down for two weeks every summer for employees’ vacations, all the maintenance workers and millwrights in the area had no vacation. They worked extended hours every day to make major repairs and upgrades to production equipment.

Dire consequences became a constant threat to him after his father contracted tuberculosis when he was in grammar school. The disease sent moneyed sufferers to warmer climates. But the little Twiss family fell into poverty after their wage earner was locked away in a TB Sanatorium for almost three years. No effective treatment existed. “There was a stigma with TB,” Bruce said. “People avoided my mother and me.”

The two of them struggled to survive on what passed for welfare in post-war America. Their fates often rested on charity—holiday food baskets delivered by service organizations such as the Lions and Elks Clubs.  Warm coats arrived every winter, along with coal for the furnace approved by a city councilman who signed a “fuel order”. Eventually, his grandfather (also a tannery worker) moved in with them to help financially.

His father was sent home after surgery to remove his infected lung. He found work in a tannery. A while later Bruce’s mother died when he was 13. Then his father passed when Bruce was 17. He was taken in by an aunt and uncle; “They were good to me,” he said.

Anyone else might have become bitter, but Bruce, an introspective only child, was grateful for any help and grew strong in his ambition to pay back and save others. He worked days and went to night school where he took not just one course but 20 plus years of courses, honing the skills that would help him fulfill his ambition.

Unitarian Universalists

His wife introduced him to Unitarian Universalism 40 years ago; she had found her niche as a member of a UU choir. For five years they attended a congregation in Attleboro, MA., and then in 1991 they attended the UU church in Greensboro, N.C., where Bruce pitched in at the once-a-month soup kitchen, served on task forces, on the building and grounds group, was an usher, and volunteered to assist with church events.

TriUU was his third venture, starting in 2008. After about three years he withdrew for a time because of his wife’s health and mobility issues. After she passed in 2019, the venerable Reverend Janet reached out to help him manage his grief.

Suzanne Seitz, then Building and Grounds Team leader, asked him to join B&G.  He told her, “I’ve retired from all that, but I’ll try to help.”  He worked with the Team and with John Seitz, known for his artistry in TriUU’s Chalice Room.

Bruce is most visible at TriUU where he is serving a second term as Vice President, facilitating the Program Council, and as current leader of Building and Grounds.

Here he’s in his element, making sure everything is working perfectly. In addition, he’s an usher, safety monitor, and offering counter, duties shared by other members. (New members take note: volunteers are always welcome).

Overachiever at Work

For 44 years Bruce held the title of Hospital Plant Operations Director and Safety Officer. First at a 500-bed Boston Harvard Medical School Teaching Hospital for 21 years, then at a 480-bed Greensboro Rehab/Skilled Nursing facility for three years. A hospital in Greensboro sought his help. He was there for 13 years, and then transferred to an Ocala hospital to correct deficiencies in preparation for an accreditation survey. He remained there for seven years and retired in 2014.

Giving of Himself, Literally

Bruce has donated eight gallons of blood over the years. His is the most common type, shared by 80 percent of the population. He has been summoned many times to donate blood for patients receiving transplants. Over the years, he also volunteered for four clinical trials.

Ham Radio Rescues

Of course, Bruce would have a hobby that would save lives. Since 2006 he has been a ham radio operator, volunteering at first with Guilford County, NC, Emergency Management. His fellow ham radio operators, a fraternity that steps up in times of natural disaster, are instant friends whenever they connect through the airwaves.  Bruce works with them to participate in emergency management activities. He brought his ham radio skills to Ocala in 2008 when he joined the Hospital Emergency Communications Team (HEC) and the Sheriff’s Marion County Emergency Radio Team (MERT) and became the liaison between the two organizations. They came together from Fort Meyers, Dunnellon, and Ocala in 2022 during Hurricane Ian that wiped out 911 communications and flooded Ft. Myers. A 65-year-old woman was stranded on her roof in rising waters at 11 p.m. Her grandson in the area, also a ham, was aware of her plight and sent out an emergency radio message. A volunteer MERT ham operator working  in Dunnellon’s emergency center picked up the call and radioed Marion County emergency center. With some difficulty, officials there contacted a rescue team near Ft. Myers that responded and saved the woman.

After retiring in 2014 Bruce joined On Top of the World’s “Community Emergency Response Team. One of the things Bruce loves about being a ham radio operator is that ham is open to everyone, treats women as equals, and has no minimum age limit. It is a completely egalitarian pursuit.

Service Organizations

Remembering the food baskets brought to his mother’s door by service organizations when he was a growing boy, Bruce first joined the Lions Club in Everett, MA, that provided services to the local community. After moving to Foxboro, MA, he joined the Elks Club in Mansfield, MA, where one of their charitable services is collecting food for the poor at holiday times. Bruce delivered food baskets and saw mothers crying with gratitude and relief  and children bouncing about, squealing in anticipation of generous meals.

In Greensboro, NC, Bruce was a member of the Merchant’s Council’s “Gangs and Graffiti Task Force”. This group recruited volunteers and provided supplies regularly to remove gang graffiti around the city. Most notably, the Council provided funds and transportation for laser removal of tattoos for female gang members, in a rehabilitation effort.

Recent Awards

Reading from four of  the tributes he has received locally in the past two years:

On Top of the World: “You are being honored for your commitment to the Community Emergency Response Team. Your experience in amateur radio was crucial in acquiring the necessary equipment for team communications during disasters. You also provided valuable training to enhance members’ skills for community service.”

Marion County Emergency Radio Team: Accepted the executive leadership position of HEC Liaison…coordinating and facilitating interaction of emergency communications for all hospital and medical facilities throughout Marion County.

HCA Florida Ocala Hospital: “You are being recognized as an outstanding volunteer…your commitment to the care and improvement of human life…your demonstration of compassion, respect, and attention to our patients’ needs.”

Bruce has earned four FEMA certifications and won other awards during his career. He is especially honored by receiving a “Caring Award” by patients of the Greensboro hospital.

And This Tidbit

Salem, MA, the home of one of his ancestors, is now a tourist stop that Bruce has visited. In 1692 Rebecca Nurse--a respected and deeply religious woman--was accused of being a witch and was hanged at 71 years of age.

She is featured in a 1953 play, “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, and in movies in 1996 and 2002.

By Marie Lujanac