Surrounded by his family, Bruce Edward Kuhre died at Grant Medical Center on February 21, 2024. He was born in Warren, Pennsylvania on November 17, 1936, to Mary Rasmussen Kuhre and Norman W. Kuhre. The family lived next to the Allegheny River where Bruce developed a love of nature and water sports, especially swimming, diving, sailing, and canoeing.
Bruce studied sociology and philosophy at Thiel College, Greenville, Pa. where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree. He continued his studies at Penn State University where he received both Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Sociology and Anthropology. He did archeological field work at Teotihuacan, a pyramid site in the Valley of Mexico. Bruce also spent two years at Gettysburg Seminary in Gettysburg, Pa. where he studied theology and the sociology of religion. He did post-doctoral studies in American Society at the University of Santa Barbara, California.
In 1961, while interning at Penn State Lutheran Campus Ministry, he met and married Carol Stockey and in 1965 they moved to Athens, Ohio, where Bruce joined the faculty of the Ohio University Department of Sociology and Anthropology where he eventually served as Department Chair for several years.
His teaching and research areas were Sociology of Religion, Modern Sociological Theory, American Society, History of Sociological Thought, Sociology of Appalachia, Third World Development and Social Movements and Social Change. He wrote and lectured extensively on these topics, including the co-editing of two books and an instruction manual on Appalachian culture during his forty-plus professional years.
Over the years, Bruce taught many places around the world. Three different times he was a visiting professor of American Studies and Sociology at De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines. He also taught at the University of Botswana, Africa where he was a Fulbright Lecturer. For eleven years he co-led and taught in Belize, Central America, a course in Field Studies in Sociological Research. Bruce also served seven times as an instructor in the Summer Institute in American Culture for Austrian Students and Teachers, which included lecturing in seven European universities.
Bruce was a man who embraced the breadth of life and was known for his wit, humor, and broad generous smile and personality. He was a gifted mechanic and handyman and was always available to volunteer his time to help others. His many interests included cattle farming, restoring old log cabins, canoeing, kayaking, beekeeping, pottery, archery, dancing, attending blues concerts and chopping wood to keep the home fires burning. His all-time favorite activities were making maple syrup and sailing. For a time, he owned a small business called Hill Top Stoves. He was an active Lutheran layman, a steady volunteer for Rural Action, and a participant in the PTO and civic activities in New Marshfield, OH. He had many happy memories being with his close friends and co-owners of a lake house at Lake Marion, South Carolina.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Norman, and Mary Kuhre, his sisters Betty Jane and Mary (Dickie), his brother William (Bill) and sister-in-law Esther Kuhre. Surviving him are his wife Carol Mae, daughter Siri Kathrine (Edward Packer), grandson Edward James (Jamey); daughter Tanja Marie (Doug Brooks); granddaughter Alexis Kathrine, nephew Bryan, nieces Bekki, Dana and Kirsten and many more family members, who all love and miss him dearly.
Bruce donated his body to the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine. A memorial service will be held at Christ Lutheran Church in Athens, OH on November 9th, 2024, at 3:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Rural Action at ruralaction.org or the Southern Poverty Law Center at www.splcenter.org.
