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Richard Bruce (Bruce) Blackwell born November 26, 1946 to Theron Gasque (T.G.) Blackwell and Frances Lou Puckett Blackwell, 70, passed away in New Mexico.
The Celebration of Bruce’s life will be held at Wells Methodist Church, Jackson MS on Wednesday, March 1st. Visitation from 12 until 2 with the service beginning at 2. In lieu of flowers, please make a contribution to Our Children’s Trust, an organization working to help better the environment, at https://www.ourchildrenstrust.org/donate/.
Survivors include his wife Liu Ying (Angela) Blackwell, children Beam Tao Ming (Beam) Blackwell and Ginger Tao Fang (Ginger) Blackwell of Eugene, Oregon. Brother Dean Allen Blackwell (Ann), niece Laura (Austin) Evans, grandniece Emma Taylor Evans, Jackson. Nephews, Taylor George Blackwell, Nashville, TN, Allen Dean Blackwell, Park City, Utah, Scott Puckett Blackwell, Nashville, TN. Sister Beth Blackwell Townsend (Thomas), niece Leslie Frances Townsend Decker (Cliff), grandnieces Frances Grace Townsend, Mary Thomas Townsend, nephew Clifton Decker, Madison. Chosen brother Jim R. Lowe and very many friends and chosen family who loved him.
He was preceded in death by his father and mother T.G. and Frances P. Blackwell and his brother Kent Don Blackwell.
Raised and educated in Magee, MS, Bruce graduated from Mendenhall High. After a brief stint at Ole Miss, he attended USM where he and his brother, Dean, opened the second jean shop in Mississippi, The Open Mind. After three years of success they sold the business. Thereafter, in 1971, he moved to Crested Butte, CO and fell in love with the West. He was rarely in Jackson for long after the discovery of the mountains and low humidity climates.
Always interested in healing and Chinese medicine, he studied acupuncture and Chinese herbalism at Harbin Medical School in northern China. While there he met his future wife Angela. At the death of his father he returned to the US from China. After T.G.’s passing, he came to work alongside his siblings Dean and Beth to carry on the the business their father founded at Blackwell Chevrolet.
In 1964 while walking on the beach at Pensacola, FL, Bruce found an engagement ring in the surf inscribed April, 1898. Then in 1990, Bruce was in Destin and Angela was in China when he asked for her hand. She accepted and on another beach stroll he discovered a man’s wedding ring. These two rings were used in their wedding ceremony which took place almost one hundred years from the date inscribed in the found engagement ring.
Bruce and Angela’s marriage was blessed at the start with two beautiful children, a son and a daughter. Like all of his family and friends, Bruce loved them dearly with all his heart and was always found to be spending time caring for, and being with them.
Bruce was a pioneer in environmental protection and had a deep heartfelt desire to do his very best to ensure that future generations would be left with a vibrant and beautiful earth. He was also a great advocate for peace and was involved in protesting the Vietnam War. In the 1970s Bruce helped to organize the very first Earth Day in Mississippi. When Beam and Ginger started going to school, Bruce, spurred on by the desire to make sure that children wouldn’t have to breathe in the harmful diesel fumes emitted by school buses, founded Earth Biofuels to produce clean alternative energy for the betterment of everyone. Bruce also felt a great compassion for the Native American community and their mistreatment by our government. He often stood in support with them and did what he could to ameliorate the effects of many years of injustice enacted against them.
Bruce lived his life as a kind, loving, thoughtful and generous man, a truly benevolent soul with a warm sense of humor. He believed in always doing right, being aware of the needs of others and living each moment to its fullest, always with a smile on his face.
