Jerry was born in Pennington County to Claus and Polly (Fenner) Bruse and that is where it all begins.Sisters and Brothers galore - Patsy, Linda, Debra, Cecil, Larry and Roger.Boy did Grandma and Grandpa have their hands full with that bunch!

Throughout our lives we have heard so many stories about skunks in the teachers outhouse, drag racing down main street Sturgis with Tom Olson and Mike Shyne, and the ever popular, I had to walk to school uphill both ways through 6 foot snow drifts with a milk pail for my lunch box..because your Uncle CG would leave me behind because he got to ride the horse and he wouldn't let me ride. How accurate that was, we will never really know.

Dad was the ultimate Jack of All Trades. He started with a certificate from Lake Area Technical in Electronics, and then he and Mom got married May 21, 1971 in Newell, what a good time that was..

He and Mom moved to Tucson in the fall of 1971 and he found a job with Hughes Aircraft in Tucson for years, working on big computers and testing bombs. He then decided to give mechanics a try and worked at Western Auto back when cars were cars. And then there was his truck driving. He drove for Spiegel, Leaseway, and a few of the mines in Arizona, owned his own mechanic shop for a while and once we moved back to Sturgis in 1988 he drove for Trimac hauling limestone back and forth from Gillette to Rapid. He also tried his hand at remodeling homes and businesses and then took a job with Auto Truck Transport in Frankfort, KY, delivering new semi-trucks to dealerships across the country and Canada. We are pretty sure that Dad had been to every state except for Hawaii and Alaska. And then came the ultimate big boy toys.Planes and Flight School in Marana Arizona.

I arrived in 1976 and I remember when I was little and Mom was working we would have supper at a different bar every night, because back then they actually served food for happy hour, and he wouldn't have to cook and I wouldn't have to do the dishes. I grew up playing pool and learning how to use a juke box, I spent numerous hours in a garage watching Dad and his buddies fix, repaint, and restore cars. I knew the differences between types of screwdrivers & wrenches before I could recite my alphabet.

Trinity came along in 1984 and now there were two of us that were around to bug Dad. Trinity remembers Dad teaching her how to take care of her car, changing the brakes, checking the tires, learning how to drive and spin cookies in the parking lots around town. Dad had Trinity as a captive audience while they tinkered and would fill her up on the "selective memories" of family and Sturgis history. She was also the one who chose to try playing the guitar with Dad.

And then in 1987 there was Keela. She is the wee one of us girls. She remembers more of Dad's desire to be a pilot and when he moved back to Tucson to go to Flight school, it wasn't very long before she followed him down to the desert. She would brag about sitting by the pool in December while the rest of us were wearing 16 layers of clothes. She hung out at the airport, went along with Dad and his instructors on several training flights.

In 7th grade, Keela also brought home our Jessica.Our sister of the heart.She spent the night one night and that was all it took for her to be ours. These two girls gave Dad more of a hard time then Trinity and I ever didbut that's our version of the story I'm sure we will now get the whole story since Dad can't try and ground them anymore.

And then there are all Grampa's babies.Mirrissa, Tarryn, Ethan, Ian, Heaven, Teigan, Sarah, Jasmine, Rebecca, Ciara, Alaina, Levi and Kenzie.

Dad was ready to be a part of the stars, while he is continuing his travels, with a guitar slung over his shoulder, be it in a plane, truck or car we will hang out here on Earth and listen for the sound of his guitar playing from out of nowhere.