22 Sep 2009

Bruce Robey Tribute

Guest Post By Parker Jayne

It’s with heavy heart that the Capitol Hill community mourns the loss of Bruce Robey, who died Sunday night after suffering a heart attack. The loss is felt particularly because of the many aspects of life in our neighborhood in which Bruce was a vital participant and contributor.  The Capitol Hill neighborhood is just the right size where one person can be active and touch many people in many spheres and Bruce was just such a person.

I knew Bruce best as a musician, a trumpet player, who shared the joy which many of us feel about music-making at the neighborhood level, making music with friends and for friends.  We shared the pit in CHAW musicals, as our friends and neighbors belted out Broadway hit tunes above us.  With Debbie Edge on bass, we played for many years as a trio, performing what we described as background “wallpaper music” for various community events, taking much pleasure in each other’s familiar solos and repartee.  He enjoyed it when we added local high schooler and friend John O’Brien as our drummer so Bruce could tease John about learning the life of a musician.

But I saw Bruce also active on a daily basis with more serious aspects of daily neighborhood life, helping his wife Adele in their graphics business, particularly as computer guru, webmaster and web designer, leading the way in adapting the Internet to connect our community over the web. This led to their founding of Voice of the Hill, a Capitol Hill community newspaper, with its active community-based web site which Bruce ran.  He was always a generous source of advice to me and many others who were limping our way around the outskirts of the technology revolution.  As an active local business person, he became heavily involved in the Capitol Hill business community, becoming President of CHAMPS, Capitol Hill’s local business support organization, where Julia his daughter continues his example of community service.

What made the most profound impression on me, however, was his and Adele’s early and continuing role in the revitalization of H Street NE.  They were the original moving force in the development of the Atlas Theater, and later, as owners and investors, created the H Street Playhouse out of a defunct restaurant. They saw how the arts had helped revitalize other areas in the city, and were determined to see the same thing happen on H Street.  As H Street slowly regains its vibrancy, I’m reminded of the work, the risk and the frustration that Bruce, Adele, and others undertook on its behalf.

Bruce was a wonderful photographer, and many of his friends have his photographs.  I have one he took of Capitol Hill from the air after a snow storm. At some community auction, he had won an airplane ride with Walt Starling, a long-time traffic reporter, and Bruce asked Walt to fly over Capitol Hill.  The photograph shows Lincoln Park and the surrounding blocks down to 8th Street.  With flight restrictions imposed since then, no one will ever be able to take that photograph again in the same way, just as no one will make the same contributions to us that Bruce did.

Robey2

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2 responses to “Bruce Robey Tribute”

  1. Kathy Hunter says:

    I LOVE this photo! Thank you, Parker, for a great tribute. My brother, Bruce, would love it.

  2. FYI:
    Memorial Tribute and Celebration of Bruce Robey’s life:

    Sunday, October 4
    7pm
    H Street Playhouse
    1365 H Street, NE.
    http://www.hstreetplayhouse.com

    All are invited.

    In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Capitol Hill Community Foundation. http://www.capitolhillcommunityfoundation.org.

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