It was in the mid-1980s, before I became the Connecticut State Archaeologist, and while I was assisting the Albert Morgan Archaeological Society in the excavation of the Morgan Site, probably the largest Native American village in the state 1,000 years ago on the floodplain of the Connecticut River in Rocky Hill, when I met Bruce Greene. The site’s co-field director, Dave Cooke, a longtime friend of Bruce’s, showed me field notes documenting the excavations being conducted, including a detailed drawing of a large storage feature with recovered artifacts precisely measured and mapped. I was very impressed with the documentation and congratulated Dave on the detail of the figures. He shook his head, “I didn’t do this,” and then pointed to a fellow sitting on an upside down 5-gallon plastic bucket, writing on a wooden clipboard, said, “He did. He’s an engineer at Pratt.” So, I suppose we can say that I was very much impressed with Bruce Greene’s fieldwork before I ever formally met him!

Bruce was a founding member of the Friends of the Office of State Archaeology, Inc., (FOSA) which was conceived by his dear friend, June Cooke in the late 1990s. He was one of a small group of avocational and professional archaeologists that spearheaded the development of the FOSA organization; serving on the nonprofit’s initial board of directors and volunteering in the field when his work at Pratt Whitney allowed.

He was a decades long member of the Archaeological Society of Connecticut and contributed articles to the Society’s annual Bulletin. He was a longtime supporter of the Institute for American Indian Studies in Washington Depot, Connecticut, where he donated his grandfather’s Indian artifact assemblage - the George O. Murphy Collection is now housed and utilized by researchers studying New England prehistory.

Bruce was born in 1946 in Westerly, RI, and came of age in Stonington, CT, where he excelled as a star track and football player in high school. So good was he as an athlete that he received numerous scholarships to play football from many Ivy League schools, including Cornell, Wesleyan, Trinity, Princeton, and Dartmouth Colleges among others. He chose to play football and matriculate at Trinity College in Hartford as an engineering student. He graduated with a BA in 1968 and found employment with Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Corporation as an aeronautical engineer working there for 35 years. Later in life, following his passion for history, Bruce Greene returned to Trinity for two Master’s Degrees in American Studies with a specialization in archaeological resources. His second master’s thesis at Trinity was on the Patchaug Hoax Site in eastern Connecticut.

After the death of Dave Cooke and his own retirement from Pratt & Whitney, Bruce assisted me as the Office of State Archaeology’s field director. He supervised University of Connecticut students and FOSA volunteers in archaeological field methods; was responsible for our office record cataloguing and laboratory management; and, he did this as a volunteer, devoting countless hours and his expertise to our office and preservation efforts. His work was meticulous, detailed, accurate, and, I am sure, the overall product of his engineering training that he ably adapted to the science of archaeology. We are forever indebted.

Through all this, Bruce developed an expertise in the material culture of Native and Colonial Americans. He aided the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History and the Connecticut Historical Society in identifying artifacts from their Indian and historical collections. He also assisted in cataloguing and developing computer databases for their museum records and promoted his skills as an archaeological consultant offering services to other institutions with archaeological collections. This was no small achievement.

That is simply a description of his many roles in Connecticut archaeology and the skills Bruce brought to his work. It does not reference the personal attributes he endeared while doing so. Students and FOSA volunteers remember him as a very caring, patient and intelligent man, who taught them archaeological techniques.

While Bruce could be very serious in the field about doing things correctly, he tempered that determination with humor and enthusiasm. He never lost the “thrill of discovery,” the importance of recording and the significance of cultural interpretation that is essential to the archaeological process. He was able to communicate his passion with a dedicated group of men and women who shared a strong love of history and archaeology that cemented longstanding friendships.

And, I think that is what I will remember and cherish the most about Bruce: our friendship! We had a lot of adventures and laughs together. Long days filled with hard fieldwork, excitement and animated discussions while eating lunches sitting on the ground, backs leaning against large tree trunks. Drives through the Connecticut countryside going to and coming from an archaeological site filled with stories of discovery, family, friends and the relevance of our work together. Bonds strengthened by mutual appreciation and respect, developing into friendships that have persisted for decades. We will miss him dearly.