Ervin Murray Bruner

Madison, Wisconsin Circuit Judge Ervin Murray Bruner died peacefully from Alzheimer`s disease at Autumn Lane, Oak Park Place on Monday November 24, 2008. Born November 12, 1915 in Lenoir, North Carolina he was the son of Eli Murray Bruner and Edna Tuttle Bruner. The family lived in Puerto Rico the first eight years of Erv`s life where his father was a Forester, then in Lenoir, N.C., Louisville, Ky, and Shorewood Wisconsin where he attended high school. He became an Eagle Scout. He always described himself as a mountain boy, fondly remembering his summers helping his twin uncles Davis and Sherrod Tuttle farm the ancestral North Carolina land with work horses. He attended Milwaukee State Teachers College, then UW Madison where he met Helen Finkelstein from Pittsfield Massachusetts. They were married on October 2, 1942. He was a great organizer all of his life. He organized the Green Lantern Food Co-op, managed a co-op grocery on Monroe Street, and a men’s housing co-op named Rochdale House after a co-op in England. This was the first interracial rooming house in Madison. After they were married Helen and Erv became house parents at the co-op. The Co-op has moved to Gilman Street, but still exists today. He and Helen began a tradition of canoe camping on the Wisconsin River with friends. He was in Army ROTC and trained where the Memorial Library now stands. He was sent to Fort McCoy, Ft. Benning Georgia, became a 2nd Lieutenant, was sent to Camp Fannin, Texas and after D Day to Ft. Mead Maryland and then England. He was sent across the channel into France taking command during combat to replace a platoon leader who was killed and later was so busy saving wounded men that he did not notice he had been hit. After recovery from shrapnel wounds in England he was sent back to the front in Germany. Because of his legal background he was put in charge of the City of Rodewisch. He was then put on the Queen Mary and headed for the Eastern Theatre when the bomb was dropped. When he returned to law school he and Helen lived at Truax Field. Erv joined Al Lawton’s law practice, was elected to the Assembly, then to Judge of the Small Claims Court. For many years he served as Dane County Family and then Juvenile Court Judge. His judicial work was very controversial. He wanted to rehabilitate juveniles who got in trouble and did not want to incarcerate them. He knew they needed to get on with their lives in a positive way. He developed organizations where juveniles could talk about their problems and organized groups of parent to talk about their children’s problems. He was seriously criticized in the Wisconsin State Journal because he would not incarcerate these kids. His approach has now become a widely accepted way of dealing with juveniles and there is an annual award, the “Erv Bruner Award”. He organized Child Development Inc. (CDI) in order to provide day care centers because there were so many mothers with small children who did not know how to care for them. Mothers were called Assistant Teachers but were really being taught how to be mothers. He started the first Head Start program in Madison as part of the “War on Poverty.” Erv and Helen bought their first house on Chandler Street in Greenbush in 1946 with Henry and Virgina Hart, joined the cooperative housing project of Crestwood in 1949, and then moved to a farm south of Verona in 1953, where they raised sheep and had a huge garden. Erv and Helen lived for over 50 years on a farm between Mt. Horeb and Verona. The family raised beef cattle. For years Helen had an egg route in Madison while working in town. Erv loved to accomplish projects and was always remodeling the old farm house and landscaping. Over the years many people working on social issues held picnics and gatherings at the farm. An annual square dance when the hay was gone from the barn in spring became a tradition. He loved to dance and had his photo on the front page of the newspaper dancing to music on the square at noon. He rode a motorcycle to work. Erv and Helen loved to ski and to travel, exploring nature, diving to see corral reefs, and hiking in wilderness. They continued to enjoy the farm and travel even after Helen’s Multiple Sclerosis prevented some activities. Erv took many beautiful photos of plants and animals. In 1993 he served a term as President of the Friends of the Arboretum. Through all these years Erv and Helen were partners in accomplishing progress in social issues. He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Helen, his three children Mary, Cathie, and Jeff, four grand children Margaret, Peter, Max and Raisa, one great grandchild Nicholas, and his sister Joyce Whitman. The family wishes to thank Jean Bachuber and the staff of Autumn Lane Oak Park Place for their devoted care. A memorial service will be held early 2009. Donations in his memory are welcome to the Alzheimer’s Association, Jewish Social Services of Madison, the UW Arboretum, and the UW Lakeshore Nature Preserve.