Gift from Blake Reynolds ’36 Establishes Neely Bruce Scholarships

March 25, 2005

Blake Reynolds ’36 , has given almost $1 million to endow three Wesleyan Scholarships in honor of Professor of Music Neely Bruce. Naming scholarships for a standing member of the faculty is a first for Wesleyan and a thrill for both Blake and Neely, who are good friends.

“O feel very comfortable giving to Wesleyan, which I hold in high regard,” Blake said recently. “The University furnished me with the basics I needed for an active engineering career. I was so firmly grounded that I needed only two short summers of make-up courses to enter graduate school at MIT. Outside of my courses in math and the sciences, I absorbed enough liberal arts to be comfortable for life among my mostly non-engineering friends. To be sure, I wanted to do something for Wesleyan, but what?

“The answer was found in the little publication Making Your Gift to Wesleyan, under the heading Wesleyan Scholarships. They are directed toward worthy students who might not make it without help, the very ones my sympathies run with. Such gifts also are within my capabilities, an essential feature. They appeared a distinct possibility.

“At the same time, I have wanted to honor Neely Bruce for his proficiency at the piano in conducting concerts of wide-ranging classical music to rags, as well as his bubbling-over enthusiasm for playing and teaching music. His place is a natural.”

Neely, who learned about the scholarships while visiting Blake at his home in Damariscotta, Maine, last fall, said that he was “overwhelmed and almost literally speechless” when he heard the news. “Apparently, this has never happened before in the whole history of Wesleyan,” he said. “It’s a wonderful vote of confidence in the music department, as well as a tremendous honor for me.”

The two men met in 1987, when Neely played ragtime piano at the 51st reunion banquet. Blake was so impressed with the concert that immediately afterward, he asked Neely to play for the Retired Men’s Association of Greenwich, Connecticut, his home at the time. Since then, Blake has booked Neely for dozens of concerts in Connecticut and Maine. Adding to the satisfaction Neely derives from playing for such enthusiastic fans as Blake is the enjoyment both friends feel when spending time together before and after concerts.

“Blake is a wonderful host and an all-around great guy,” Neely said. “He has very interesting stories and an incredibly sly sense of humor. He’s an inspiration to all who know him.”

Blake, now retired from a successful career in engineering, most recently with Texaco Inc., was a mathematics major at Wesleyan and a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Chi honorary societies. He also competed in soccer and managed freshmen baseball. While his schedule left little time to study music, Blake was able to take one course: Music Theory, with the late Professor Joe Daltry. He also played trumpet in the field band during his last three years.

“I had had music lessons as a kid and I knew how to read music,” Blake said. “A fellow in the next room in Clark Hall said, ‘You ought to play the trumpet,’ so he instructed me on how to play and we practiced the pieces that we’d perform. That’s a great pleasure, being in the band.“

Thanks to Blake’s generosity and his dedication to the University and Neely, others will have the opportunity to study music and perhaps play in a band, just as he did. They may even have a chance to study under the namesake of their scholarship.

Related

Wesleyan Receives $600,000 Thanks to Blake Reynold’s Estate and Retirement Planning (December 4, 2007.)