Obituary of Priscilla C Bruno

Priscilla Carswell Bruno : 22 April 1918 - 26 February 2013 Priscilla Bruno, only a few weeks shy of her 95th birthday, died on February 26th at Fellowship Village in Liberty Corner. Born in Newark, NJ in 1918, her parents, Priscilla and Archibald Carswell, moved to Basking Ridge in the early 1920s, where the young Priscilla grew up with her sister Janet. Her musical ability appeared at a young age and by 1930 she was assisting the organist of the Presbyterian Church by playing for the Sunday school. At the same time she began studying the violin and piano privately at the LaFollette School in New York; she was graduated in 1937 from High School and then went on to Trenton State (now College of NJ), where she came under the influence of the legendary Mabel E. Bray, graduating with one of the first music education degrees in 1940. Her first teaching positions took her south to Burlington county (Pemberton) and then north to suburban Essex Fells. Most important during the war years was Priscilla Carswell's summer study first in New York at the Juilliard School and then in 1941 at Tanglewood, at the Berkshire Music Center in Lennox, Mass. It was here that she studied under Paul Hindemith, rubbed shoulders with Leonard Bernstein, and most significantly met her future husband Giovanni (John) Bruno, a young Italian-American violinist and conductor under the tutelage of Serge Koussevitsky. Bruno, himself, was soon to be lured to California to play in the Hollywood Bowl and to join the lucrative freelance world of the Universal and MGM orchestras in their heyday. By 1943 the couple was engaged, though separated by a continent, but, as the War neared its end in 1945, Priscilla left New Jersey for a new home and husband in Los Angeles. As she acclimatized to the West-coast world, she undertook a further degree course work at USC and was soon heading string-instrument teaching for the Burbank City Schools. Before the birth of their children in the early 1950s, the Brunos moved back to Priscilla's childhood home of Basking Ridge, where she began a long career as a music educator, first in the Bernardsville school system for twenty years from 1953-73. With the opportunity to develop the string program in Bernards Township, she moved to William Annin and Ridge High Schools where she stayed until her retirement in 1984. During the late 1970's she completed her Masters degree in Music at Trenton State College. She was also a member of the Plainfield Symphony, and a trustee of the Colonial Symphony. Over the next 25 years, there was hardly any "retirement" in her lifestyle. In the 1990's Priscilla taught in the music education department at Trenton State College, led strings at the Pingry School and served as President of the American String Teachers Association (NJ Chapter). In 1995 she turned to private teaching at home, in her Somerset Hills Studio, which she had originally opened with her husband 40 years earlier. She continued to teach privately until age 91 when she moved to Fellowship Village. Priscilla was always actively involved in Community Service especially as it related to youth. She established the Bernards Chamber Ensemble and began a chorus at Ridge Oak. She led the students at the Tree House Child Care Center in singing for almost 20 years. In 1997 she was the first recipient of the Millicent Fenwick Civic award for meritorious leadership and service. In 2007 she was recognized for outstanding service by Bernards Township for her service during the previous 18 years when she served as a member of the Parks & Recreation Committee, the Bernards Township Municipal Alliance and Youth Services, the Community Center Steering Committee, the Recreation Committee, and the Cultural Arts Task Force. Priscilla was a life-long educator who used her love of music to encourage young people to build on their key strengths. She has left a legacy of many musicians, teachers and members of the community brought together by musicmaking. Throughout her life, the driving force behind Priscilla's musicmaking was not only the beauty and richness of music, but its inherent power to bring people together for good, thereby enriching the communities in which she lived. From her work with the youngest children to her adult orchestra and choir activities, continuing even up to mid-February this year, when she led weekly singing and played for services at Fellowship Village, her engaging song continued. When not musicmaking or teaching, Priscilla loved to travel to make new friends and see new places. With her daughter and her family she travelled west, to California and Arizona, and to the Midwest and to the South many times. To visit her son and his family she made many trips to England and Wales and to Norway, Germany, Austria France and Italy. She is survived by her sister, Janet Arleo, of Flemington, her daughter Christina Bramel and son-in-law Jay Bramel of Basking Ridge, granddaughters, Melissa Thompson and Amy Pellegrino, both of Basking Ridge, her son Malcolm Bruno and daughter-in-law, Jessica Gordon of Great Britain, grandsons, Isaac Gordon-Bruno and Cauis Gordon-Bruno of Great Britain, and four great-grandchildren, Emily, Jack, Alexandra and Isabella, all of Basking Ridge. A memorial service in her honor will be held at the Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church on March 23, 2013 at 11:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the PRISCILLA BRUNO MEMORIAL ORCHESTRAL FUND and forwarded to: Ridge High School c/o Jennifer Curran, Orchestra Director 268 South Finley Avenue Basking Ridge, NJ 07920