PANAMA CITY— Hatred of injustice is near to the core of one couple’s longstanding love.
Mary and John Bruce, originally from Alabama, have led several landmark social changes in Bay County since moving to the state in 1965. Mary Bruce, 77, a petite woman and mother of three sons, is the pillar of her family; her husband, 81, is outspoken and stands firmly for what he believes in.
“We discussed issues a lot at home and, nine out of 10 times, we were on one accord,” said Mary Bruce, recalling home life during the height of the civil rights era in Bay County.
“We just hated injustice,” she said, glancing over to her husband, during an interview at her home on Center Avenue on Tuesday evening. “We hated it.”
The Bruces got married in April 1959. Both had recently graduated from Alabama State University with teaching degrees and soon afterward traveled across Florida, to eventually become teachers at Rosenwald High School.
Although the school closed the following year, in 1967, and Mary and John Bruce would be temporarily without jobs, they both were rehired and then retired from teaching with more than 65 years combined at the school district.
Over the decades they have left their mark of their beliefs on the area through the Advisory Council for the Urban Revitalization and Equity (ACURE), established in 1983.
Making a mark: According to Myron Hines, spokesman for ACURE, even when Mary and John Bruce were not chairing the organization, they “led from behind.”
“I’ve never gotten the impression by anything he took on that he was afraid or doubted,” Hines said, regarding John Bruce. “It’s hard to spend time with people like that and not give heart to fighting the good fight.”
One such fight unfolded in a lawsuit against the school district to keep open schools in areas where a high population of African-Americans resided. Though risky, the organization’s effort, led by the Bruces, then teachers, became a decree and the schools, particularly Oscar Patterson Elementary, has remained opened and was not repurposed.
“We sued our bosses,” John Bruce said. “You can’t stop and deal with self-doubt; always take the high road.”
ACURE also sued the city of Panama City for, according to Mary Bruce, “diluting the black vote.”
In 1985, if a black person ran, he or she couldn’t win, she said. At the time, the city had at-large voting and because the overall population of African-American voting residents in the city was low in comparison to whites, areas with a high concentration of African-American residents could not make a large enough voting group to elect an African-American commissioner.
The federal case was settled out of court, the zones were rearranged, member districting was established and the first black commissioner was elected in 1985.
Mary Bruce was the plaintiff in the federal lawsuit.
Another great achievement of ACURE during John Bruce’s leadership as interim chairman, which he served from 1985 to 1994, was erecting the Martin Luther King monument at the courthouse. The organization continued to pressure the county and, eventually, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established as a recognized holiday, on which students and county workers would have the day off.
The new holiday was perfect for the ACURE march and rally at McKenzie Park, which had begun in 1987.
“It was great to see somebody who is intelligent and well established in his career and is willing to risk his career to stand up for what is right,” Hines said of John Bruce. “You don’t see that very often, especially in this community.
“And his wife, was right along with him,” he added.
‘A lot in common’: Having the same world view has awarded Mary and John Bruce with 56 years of marriage.
“It’s the philosophical things,” said John Bruce. “For some reason, we were on the same page.”
“We have a lot in common; we talk [together] a lot,” Mary Bruce added. “We also realize we are dependent on each other.”
Their mantra stems back to junior year at Alabama State University, where a typical class they both had would expose a chattering John Bruce and a quieter Mary Bruce.
He would earn a C on one exam, and she, a B. Both of them remember that day, which resulted in a date later organized by Mary Bruce’s cousin.
The couple would date for two years and then marry.
“She is smarter than I am,” John Bruce said, running his hands from the front to the back of his head. Sharing the same value system was “critical” to his efforts in the social movement.
They both need each other and continue to rely on each other.
“The things I don’t do well, he does,” Mary Bruce said, slightly pinching her lips into a smile. “I write; he types.”