Wyche Evans Bruner

Wyche Evans Bruner 1912 - 2016 Wyche Evans Bruner, a resident of Thomaston, Georgia, since 1975, died June 7, 2016, after a brief stay at the Transitional Health Care in Kannapolis, NC. He was 103 years old. Mr. Bruner was born October 23, 1912, in Dublin, Georgia, to parents Frances Elizabeth Wyche and Warren Evans Bruner. During his childhood, he and his parents moved frequently with his father’s employment, but he always considered two places home: Greenville, Georgia, where his Wyche grandparents lived, and Dublin, Georgia, the home of his father’s sisters. Following the death of his mother in 1922, he lived in Dublin with his aunts and graduated from Dublin High School in 1929. Mr. Bruner’s life-long banking career began in his mid-teens when he was employed as an assistant to one of the many groups of receivers overseeing the closing and reopening of various national banks during the bank crisis of the Great Depression. After some months of traveling from one failed bank to another, he lost his job when he played a mischievous, teenage prank on his boss by dusting an entire box of newly arrived Cuban cigars with a little cayenne pepper. He then hitchhiked to Pensacola, Florida, and signed onto a banana boat for a single voyage as a deck hand. He thought the boat was heading to warmer climates, but soon discovered it was bound for the North Sea. To make matters worse, it was wintertime. That was the last time he ever neglected to read the small print in a document. When Mr. Bruner returned, his old boss rehired him, he rejoined the receivers, and continued to evaluate and oversee banks in southern Alabama and northern Florida. During his 1931 stay in Florala, Alabama, he met his future bride, Benie Phillips. The two were married in 1934. Mr. Bruner moved to Spartanburg, SC, in 1932 where he participated in the establishment of the Commercial National Bank of Spartanburg and then joined the bank when they incorporated in 1934. He first served as an assistant cashier, then assistant Vice President, Vice President, and finally Trust Officer in his 18 years of employment there. During his time in Spartanburg he also attended Wofford College. In 1952 he and his young family moved to Florence, Alabama, where he became Executive Vice President of the First National Bank of Florence. In 1955 Mr. Bruner and his family moved to Atlanta where he became Vice President and later Executive Vice President of the Trust Company of Georgia Associates (now SunTrust Bank), a position he held until his retirement in 1972. Early in his Atlanta career, he earned a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Rutgers University. During his time at the Trust Company, Mr. Bruner was most known for the training school he created and directed for promising bankers serving in the six banks throughout Georgia which were connected with the parent holding company. By the time this program ended, he had personally trained over 40 officers (aka Bruner’s Brats), many of whom rose to significant positions of leadership within their institutions and/or in major corporations, both in Georgia and throughout the South. He never forgot his early lessons from his deckhand days and was known throughout the Trust Company network for his attention to detail, his meticulous record keeping, and his precise interpretation of banking regulations. When he retired, the Bruners moved to their farm, Upson-Downs, in Thomaston, Georgia, where he became a gentleman farmer and was active in the First Methodist Church of Thomaston and the local historical society. He and his wife traveled extensively until her death in 1994, and later he continued his travels with his dear friend, Mrs. Betsy White, often on trips led by his daughter, Edith. He also enjoyed attending the many milestone events of his six grandchildren, especially their graduations and weddings. His last trip abroad, at 97, was with his eldest granddaughter, Elizabeth—a river boat cruise in Eastern Europe. He remained an avid student his whole life, carrying his attention to detail into the realm of scholarship and self-study. Those who knew him considered him a true Renaissance Man, knowledgeable and proficient in a wide array of subjects from woodworking, mechanical devices and equipment to horticulture and pond management to history and culture. He loved words and their precise meaning and spent many happy hours reading the Oxford English Dictionary and all the volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica for pleasure. His notes and journals reflect his insatiable curiosity and fascination with vocabulary even through his later years at West Village Assisted Living in Thomaston. He and his wife, Benie Phillips Bruner, have two daughters: Benie Bruner Colvin of Griffin, Georgia, and Edith Bruner Gross of Davidson, NC. In addition to his six grandchildren, Mr. Bruner has eight great-grandchildren. At the specific request of Mr. Bruner, there will be no visitation or service, nor did he want flowers or memorials. A private burial will be held at the family site in south Alabama.