In Loving Memory of Bruce Arthur Gay

What is remembered about Bruce Arthur Gay?

Bruce Arthur Gay of St.Leonard, MD passed away on November 24, 2025 at the age of 72 at Calvert Medical Health Center after a long battle with cancer. Bruce was born March 30, 1953 in Buffalo, NY to Richard A. Gay and Suzanne A. Sturm. When Bruce was a young boy, he and his family moved to Miami, FL where he grew up enjoying sunshine, crystal blue water and fresh fruit in abundance. He joined the Boy Scouts of America where he became the senior patrol leader of Troop 42 and Explorer Group 92. While in the scouts, he and his close friends formed a group called “Coxie’s Army”, whose sole purpose was to secretly place a jack-o’-lantern on the steeple of the North Miami Library on Halloween Eve. This prank became a 50 year tradition and was featured in many newspaper articles over the years. Bruce attended Miami Senior High School, where he enjoyed intramural baseball, played tuba in the band, and concentrated on his woodworking skills in shop class. He graduated in 1971. He briefly attended Miami Dade Junior College before shifting winds took him north to Washington, DC. There he began his career in boat maintenance and restoration at the Anacostia Marina, owned by Tommy Long. He apprenticed under Joe Fletcher, who he admired as a teacher and father figure while living & working at Anacostia. Bruce & his co-workers lightheartedly referred to themselves as the “Anacostia River Rats”. In the early 1980s Bruce’s compass brought him 40 miles southeast to St. Leonard, MD where he and John Little opened Flag Harbor Marine Service in a little cove tucked off the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. Then, in the early 2000s, Bruce decided to go into business for himself and opened Long Beach Boat Company. He claimed to be able to “fix anything from your keel to your kitty cat”, which he passionately did, never turning away an engine, a friend, or a stray in need! He was particularly skilled at restoring Atomic 4 boat engines- folks often reached out from afar because of his ads in magazines for help with their boat projects. He continued his work on boats until his declining health forced him into retirement. Although he was unable to continue working, his imagination burst with ideas - he continued making plans to build canoes & other smaller pleasure boats. Bruce was a man of many hobbies. He learned his woodworking and mechanical skills from his grandfather and his appreciation of home cooking from his grandmother. He loved spending time with his mother, who taught him the art of gourmet cooking. He even helped his good friend, Bardy Jones, by planning the meals & cooking for the crew of his PBS show about kayaking down south. In his early years he enjoyed much of his free time surfing, riding his bicycle and hanging out with his friends & sister, Cat(herine). He was passionate about putting together model boats and airplane kits, which he continued into his adult years. He was always a supporter of the military and was a military history buff - dragging the family to air shows, sometimes as far away as the great Oshkosh Air Adventure! Bruce was an avid reader, could retain information, and a collector of old tools, bottles & cans, old military memorabilia - all displayed in what he called his “Archives”. He enjoyed boating, flying, cycling (even up and down the East Coast a couple times with his good friend David Gregory), tinkering with his Willy’s jeeps and station wagon, gardening, crafting, camping, renovating old wooden boats like the Yacht Suzanne, beachcombing, swimming in the Bay with his daughters, flying & sailing radio controlled airplanes and boats, taking trips with the family, or sitting around with the ones he loved telling stories or playing music on his guitar & harmonica. Bruce is survived by his wife Patricia of 37 years; children Suzanne and her husband Steven Newberry, and Catherine; sisters Catherine Winder and her husband, Ray, and Carolyn Cole; stepmother Adrienne Gay; and two stepsons, Alexander and Dylan Newberry. He was preceded in death by his parents Richard Gay and Suzanne Arps; and son David Joseph Gay. A Celebration of Life will be held on September 19th at 11:00AM at Flag Harbor Marina in St. Leonard, MD, followed by a luncheon.

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