Bruce D. Elsner

It is with deepest sorrow that we share the passing of Bruce Dennis Elsner on April 12th, 2025. He moved beyond this life surrounded by family, love and prayers. Bruce was, and always will be, a deeply loved husband, brother, father, grandfather, uncle, great uncle, and dear friend.

Bruce was born on August 26, 1940 in Philadelphia, PA. He graduated from Neshaminy High School in 1958 where he was the yearbook photographer, a member of NHS, and lettered member of the high school chorus. He attended Penn State main campus in 1961 and graduated in 1965. He was an Army ROTC cadet during college and, upon graduation, was stationed in Kourat, Thailand in May of 1966 through June of 1967 as part of the Army Corps of Engineers building a road through the Chiang Mai Province. After the Army, Bruce began a successful career in Pharmaceutical Quality Control and Assurance, first at Squibb (1968 - 1974), followed by Richardson Vicks Inc (1974 - 1992), then Proctor and Gamble (1992 - 1996). He continued his professional education with many additional certifications including sessions with W. Edwards Demming, an executive certification from The Institute for Productivity Through Quality in 1989 and more. Throughout this time, Bruce developed or improved numerous processes and products for a variety of well-known over-the-counter health and beauty products. You can thank Bruce for helping you get rid of all those “sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fevers” and also keeping the wrinkles away with Oil of Olay! The last stage of Bruce’s career was his longest, from 1992 to 2023, as a successful and sought-after consultant, auditing and assisting companies interested in manufacturing FDA-regulated products. He had a way of helping businesses understand complexities in a frank and informative manner, including two companies where Nancy, his daughter, worked. Bruce served his community in many ways including as council president of First U.C.C Church (Quakertown, PA), member of many church committees, mentoring church youth as well as coaching youth soccer.

Tennis, gardening, photography, singing, and great conversation were the things that regularly brought joy to Bruce and to all those with whom he shared his time. His organizing and participating for over 40 years in his doubles tennis group led to lifelong friendships on and off the court. Despite his self-taught and completely backward racquet grip(!), he hit lots of cross court winners- on the court and in life.

He planned his gardens with precision as evidenced by his detailed timeline for planting and documentation of weight and yield! If you like lettuce, zucchini, and tomatoes, he was glad to share his abundant harvests delivered during daylight or under cover of darkness. He was undefeated in the Annual Best Tasting Tomato Contests (except for multiple contested seasons, according to other family members!).

Everyone who ever stood for a photo with Bruce knew that the lighting and smiles would be wonderful, regardless of many takes and retakes; candid photos and Bruce were two complete strangers! The same care and craft he put into his photographs he put into every aspect of his life.

There was always a song in Bruce’s heart which began in high school and continued into church and community choirs, barber shop quartets and talent shows, weddings and funerals. He practiced all of his songs to be as perfect (as possible), which is exactly how he approached everything in his life.

“Finally”, but forever ongoing in our hearts, Bruce loved conversation in all sorts of subjects with all sorts of people. He blended listening, patience, encouragement, and advice to share and laugh, to help, to be in relationship as much as he could and we have all been blessed by his emotional intelligence in many different ways and times.

In many other ways, his life overflowed into ours. His remodeling work in his Buckingham, PA home included new stairs from kitchen to family room and a multi-level deck with swing - all with Judy in mind. He could regularly be found in his workshops sometimes creating gadgets and sometimes works of art including a 25-foot tall Christmas star which illuminated Winding Road, a custom garden seed hot frame/cold frame for pre-frost veggie plantings; a one-of-a-kind rocking horse we’ll cherish for generations, desk hutches for high school homework, deep-shelf window seats and bamboo walls to make bedrooms places of adventure and comfort and so much more. He built picnic tables and sheds and forts along with church info displays and lighting systems; anything needed for play or function. He was determined (and successful!) at fixing no matter what including the annual “find the burnt-out bulb on the Christmas tree lights” quest, repairing the 20 year old tractor that was already 25 years old when he got a great deal on it, and how to outsmart the mice eating the cantaloupes just as they were perfectly ripening. He was a liner-upper and made everything plumb and square (including people), the champion bb gun squirrel trainer, an expert lawnmower for croquet courses, the best summer Cousins Camp counselor, and “patented” the perfect pancake process. So many talents big and small which he relished and shared with enthusiasm and hopefulness.

Bruce was preceded in death by his parents, Edmund and Gertrude Elsner and brothers-in-law, Capt. Michael C. Wunsch and Richard S. Walter. He is survived by and will be dearly loved and remembered by: his wife and co-pilot in life for over 60 years, Judy; brother Ed and wife Bev; sister, Carol Walter; brother-in-law Ted Wunsch and his wife, Dee; sister-in-law Suzanne Johnson and her husband, George; son David and his wife, Karen; daughter Nancy (Werkheiser) and her husband, John; grandchildren Chris and his fiancée Ally (Brown), Lizzy, Natalee, Kate, and Adam, and many adoring nieces and nephews, extended family, and friends.

This is a time of profound grief but also of gratitude and celebration for Bruce’s life. Visitation will be from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm on Saturday, April 19th at First United Church of Christ, 151 4th Street, Quakertown, PA, followed by the service from 1:00 - 2:00 pm. The service will be live streamed on Facebook or YouTube. In celebration of Bruce, please consider wearing a colorful article of apparel to brighten this day as Bruce brightened all of ours.

In lieu of flowers, Judy asks that donations be made in Bruce’s name to First United Church of Christ, 151 South 4th Street, Quakertown, PA 18951 to support the music department or to Wounded Warrior Project.

Arrangements are in the care of the C.R. Strunk Funeral Home, Inc., Quakertown.