Reverend Bruce BUESCHEL

1939 - 2017

BUESCHEL, Reverend Dr. Bruce B. Born in Niagara, Wisconsin, October 31, 1939, died Friday, April 21, 2017. The first of four children born to Ruby and Gordon Bueschel, he grew up in Rockford, Illinois and went to University of Illinois where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy. Extraordinarily well educated, Bruce earned a Bachelor's of Divinity at the Colgate Rochester School of Divinity in Rochester, New York. He received a Masters of Divinity at Union Seminary in New York City, and studied under Paul Tillich and Rheinhold Niebuhr, prominent religious philosophers of the twentieth century. He earned a PhD in Bioethics at Colgate Rochester and studied at St. Andrews in Scotland. Bruce tended to many individual church congregations, including the Second Congregational Church of Rockford, Illinois. He became the Senior Pastor of the Church of the Covenant in downtown Boston, a church known for its beautiful Tiffany windows. He raised funds to renovate the sanctuary to its nineteenth century beauty. He developed funding and space for battered women and homeless people in the same location. He was chaplain at Occidental College in California where he successfully arbitrated a student attempt to take over the academic/administrative buildings in the unrest in the late 1960's. As the administrator for United Campus Ministry in Oxford, Ohio, he created programs, made the ministry fiscally sound and renovated the historic UCM building where his hand carved crosses remain on the corbels under the roof eaves. He was a staunch civil rights advocate in the 1960's and opposed the Vietnam War. He participated in the March on Selma and attended the Martin Luther King March on Washington. A lover of classical music and the artistry of sacred stain glass, he became an accomplished designer and producer of stained glass. Bruce also relished antiques and the restoration of vintage automobiles as well as wood craft. Additionally, he wrote music. He loved the pageantry, liturgy and symbols of the Presbyterian Church. He is predeceased by his wife, Dr. Ellen Bueschel, Professor of Educational Leadership and Superintendent of Schools in Indiana, Massachusetts and Illinois. He has two accomplished sisters, Sandra Bueschel Connell, Barbara Bueschel Schulz (Wally) and a brother, Tom Bueschel (Erin). He leaves 8 cherished nephews and nieces, most of whom he married, baptized their children and imparted his unique brand of kindness and civility. He will be missed by his friends, his Presbyterian family and Ellen Buerk, M. D.! In lieu of flowers, contribution may be made the Youth Group of the Oxford Presbyterian Church, 101 N. Main St., Oxford, OH 45056. Visitation will be held from 12:00 to 1:00pm on Saturday, April 29, 2017 with funeral services beginning at 1:00pm at the Oxford United Presbyterian Church. Condolences may be made on line at www.oglepaulyoungfuneralhome.com