Mannert Brewster "Bruce" Abele

Mannert Brewster “Bruce” Abele, the eldest of the three sons of Lt. Commander Mannert Lincoln Abele and Catharine Eaton Abele, died at his home in Newton on Sunday, January 26, 2025. We celebrated his 95th birthday on October 14, 2024, and now mourn his loss. The WWII loss of the submarine USS Grunion commanded by Bruce’s father was a defining factor in the lives of three brothers, Brad who died in 2008, and John who survives him. The loss of the USS Grunion was a frustrating puzzle, a mystery for more than 60 years.  In 2002, Yutaka Iwasaki’s chance post on the internet bridged the chasm of war, launching an epic search off the coast of Kiska Island in the Aleutians. International collaboration buoyed the search; unexpected reconciliation and healing lifted hearts. The self-described Sunday historian, Yutaka Iwasaki, gained an honored place in our family. 

The Abele family, Catharine, known as Kay, along with Bruce, Brad, and John moved to Newton Highlands in 1942. Thirteen-year-old Bruce would attend the new Weeks Junior High, which “looked like a college” to him, and Mount Hermon School for Boys. Graduating from Iowa State and the Columbia School of Business, Bruce worked in computers and real estate and had a lifelong passion for the mechanics of human communication inspired by W. Ross Ashby 

A basketball hoop was mounted over the garage doors. Bruce would shoot baskets; if he hit five in a row his father would come home.  In the winter, the driveway was flooded for skating.  Son Karl, following in his father’s footsteps, built a skating rink in his backyard for his children.   Bruce moved a milling machine into the basement of the house and produced all manner of inventions. In a moment of civil disobedience, obtaining the necessary chemicals to make gunpowder, the brothers fired off a small Civil War cannon in their quiet Newton Highlands' neighborhood. By the time the police arrived the smoke had wafted away; the boys said yes, they had heard the noise, but thought the explosion was “over there.”   

Bruce loved boats; one of the first — the Un-Uh, was caulked with tar that melted and dripped on his mother’s car as it was transported to Fogland Beach in Tiverton, Rhode Island.  On the Rei Kura, a graceful thirty-six-foot Alden yawl, the boys learned to sail; and in the 1970s the Rubaiyat, a fifty-foot 1949 Chris Craft, became a floating retreat in Westport harbor. Bruce skied Mad River Glen in Vermont, at Sapporo in Japan, and Vail in Colorado.  In 1965, his mom invited two young ladies to dinner. Another challenge, but one checked all the boxes — except math! A year later he took his new bride fishing at Moosehead Lake in Maine, and moved his workshop, including the milling machine, to their home in Newtonville. Bruce was a fine woodworker. Tables in black walnut came out of his basement workshop and furnish the house today. 

Bruce loved challenges; he predicted he would do Texas skips, jumping through a vertical spinning rope that he learned as a teen — 70 by 70, 80 by 80.  Peanut butter and horseradish sandwiches with green olives would be key to success.  His Uncle Trescott’s javelin throws in the Senior Olympic set another standard to follow; and he set challenges for children and grandchildren. At Sunset Olympics on summer weekends children were challenged to run, do long jumps, and then try to beat their record.  In decline, powering along with a walker, Bruce calculated distances around Newton North High school and constantly tried to better his record. 

Bruce married Susan Elizabeth Drummond in 1966. Susan, the niece of Catharine Abele’s best friend, knew the Abeles’ story of loss from the age of twelve, and had the extraordinary privilege of sharing the Abele brothers’ search for the USS Grunion. Her gift of love was his father’s story, USS Grunion, On Eternal Patrol at Kiska, which she self-published on Bruce’s ninetieth birthday. 

Bruce leaves his wife Susan, two sons Kurt and Karl, their wives Alicia, who was unexpectedly instrumental in forwarding an essential clue to Grunion’s discovery, and Christina who cooked all manner of special foods for her father-in-law; five grandchildren, Theo, Chelsea, Enzo, Lucy, and Trescott brought great joy, as did numerous nieces and nephews. Long remembered friends Dan Simons, Bill Shelton, Larry Cohen predeceased him, as did our much-loved dog Ginny. 

We will celebrate Bruce’s life later in the spring.

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