Posted by John David Gabel on October 15, 2025:

I was thinking about my own father and then started looking through the memorials of other graduates I knew. I was not selected to be among the honored members of the Long Gray Line (though my brother, Michael P. Gabel '90 was) so forgive this brief intrusion among your company. I was sad to see so few remembrances of him here, but that may be because so many of the class predeceased him and many of his classmates may not spend a lot of time on the internet. At the risk of seeming too forward, I felt compelled to leave something of my recollections of him here. I met Bruce while quite young (I think I was 10). He and his wife Dorothy became fast friends with my father (David Gabel '65) when they joined together to form the West Point Society of Long Island in the 1980's. Those were times when a lot was going on that I did not understand because I was young. What was clear to me at the time was that Bruce was a great guy with a fantastic sense of humor. I would have known that from his fast and close friendship with my parents if from nothing else, but Bruce had a way of communicating who he was very quickly. I never knew him as a soldier. When I knew him, he was the manager of a government research facility on Long Island. I met his children after they were already grown and moved out of the house but would see them often on the weekends. His daughter Kathy (also a graduate, I want to say 1980?) and his sons-in-law who were also graduates (Bob Whitmer who married Kathy and another son in law who I sadly can't remember the name of). The family was one that shared his sense of humor and generosity and were always welcoming to us. Indeed, their family partnership with mine was one that was an enduring part of my life until age and circumstance spread our families to other parts of the country. The last time I spoke with Bruce was some years after I was married (an event he graciously attended) and he shared his fond memories of my special day. It made me feel special that a day of my own life (while consequential to me) was also consequential to him. Bruce had a way of helping people around him feel respected and consequential. A rare gift in the world. I miss him and his family and think of them and our shared time together from the 1980's through the early 2000's. I think of all the trials our families saw through together, all the good times, and how that helped to prepare me for all the trials yet to come in my own life. My thought to all graduates is that Duty, Honor, and Country do not have to be something reserved for your time of service, or your time at West Point, but like Bruce (and my own father) imparted by example to those whose lives entwine with your own. Well Done Bruce. Thank you.

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