As Jeff Kurtti prepared to discuss Bruce Gordon and his books, he noted that Hollywood in the teens and twenties was an exciting time and place. New York in the 40s and 50s was pretty exciting too. Once, when he had asked Bruce what time and place he would like to have experienced, the reply was, �ten years from now.�

According to Kurtti, Bruce Gordon created books that he felt wouldn�t have been done. So he went out and made them himself.

The first, The Nickel Tour, had its genesis in a 1983 encounter with fellow Imagineer David Mumford. He was leafing through a collection of vintage Disneyland postcards, leading Gordon to note that he too, collected postcards, and wanted to present them in book form, illuminated with background stories. After years of work off and on, the manuscript was ready in 1990. After numerous rejections from publishers, Bruce rose to the challenge and, with David, raised the money to have their book published in Italy.

Their next book, Walt�s Time, Kurtti related, was about �our beloved Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman.� Not only did he and David Mumford work closely with the Sherman brothers, Bruce also negotiated the maze of legal rights and releases for the myriad source material that was to be included.

Through it all, Kurtti said, Bruce was, �busy, obstinate, flinty, arrogant and curmudgeonly.� But, he went on, Bruce was also ��sensitive, caring and warm hearted.�

Bruce�s insistence on sticking to his vision was never more evident than in the production of Ellenshaw Under Glass. The biography of artist Peter Ellenshaw, noted for his glass matte paintings, must, Gordon insisted, include a cover painting of Ellenshaw, under glass. He was told it simply couldn�t be done. So he went out and did it himself.

Many books followed, Kurtti said. Among them were The Heart and Soul of America, The Disney Insider Yearbook, the companion volume for the Disneyland 50th birthday record set, as well as a special 50th birthday book created for Disneyland cast members. Kurtti worked with Bruce on some of these and other projects, noting, �Through all this, I realized Bruce and I had become very close.� He noted that he found this odd and unexpected.

After David Mumford�s untimely passing, Jeff Kurtti journeyed with Bruce to one of the annual NFFC conventions. He gleefully claimed that they enjoyed shooting zingers at each other. After one particularly brutal comment, Bruce took a pause, then said, �You know, David Mumford was a LOT nicer than you!� As the laughter subsided, Kurtti went on to say, �I was happy to fill in when his co-star left the show.�

Kurtti finished his comments on Bruce Gordon and his books by lauding his instincts. He said that Bruce made everything a little bit� or a lot� better than it would have been. He ruefully observed, �In our work together he had a growing tendency to be right.� He worked hard to ensure that each book was the best it could be, while also making sure to let no one forget who was who in the collaboration. Bruce never let the author outrank his role as the designer. Besides, he would point out wickedly, as the designer it was he who sent the final proofs to the publisher.

Three new books by Bruce Gordon will appear next year, Kurtti concluded, and then, unbelievably, there will be no more. He ended with the simple words, �I miss Bruce.�

The next speaker spoke of Bruce�s love of Walt Disney, his legacy and creations. Diane Disney Miller shared about Bruce Gordon the Disney historian.

�Bruce loved Disneyland so much,� she began. She asked the family how old he had been on his first visit, and learned he was five years old. Miller noted that these early visits had had a profound effect on Bruce, �And he never really got over it, thank God.�

She regretted that her family had not known Bruce as long as others present had. They had met eight years earlier, and had been working with him on the Walt Disney Family Foundation for two years. The first meeting was during the making of the documentary film, Walt Disney: The Man behind the Myth. Miller recalled wondering who the unfamiliar interview subject was, just as he said, �I�ve always believed that the reason Walt built Disneyland was because he wanted one.� She said she immediately knew that, �He got it.� After his interview session had ended, he was rather startled when she rushed to greet him.

�We were thrilled he could come aboard,� Miller said of Bruce�s involvement with the Walt Disney Family Foundation. When it was decided to build a full scale museum, they immediately thought of him. His knowledge as a historian, she said, came from a love of Walt Disney and his legacy. She assured that Bruce�s contributions would be in the details of the museum. �When you talk of legacy,� she said, �I think Bruce epitomized it.� She concluded by saying that Bruce�s passing was a great loss to her family, and to all.

As Jeff Kurtti introduced Paula Sigman-Lowery, he noted of Bruce, �There wasn�t a gadget in the world he didn�t have.� A fellow member of the Mickey Mac Club, Sigman-Lowery glided up the chapel�s center aisle aboard a Segway. As she stepped off, she announced, �This is the latest model. Bruce wanted you to see it.� As she carefully steered it off to the side, the Segway offered a cheerful beep. �Thank you, Bruce,� Paula replied.

Paula Sigman-Lowery began by noting the vintage Mac t-shirt she was wearing. �I thought this would make Bruce laugh,� she admitted. She promised more on Macs and Mickey would follow.

When they first met, Sigman-Lowery speculated, it was almost certainly at the Disney Archives. During her tenure there, many young people would come in to study material about Walt Disney and the studio. She recalled that Bruce Gordon was the most passionate of the young Imagineers.

There was another side to Bruce, though. Sigman-Lowery summed it up as, �His love for all things Apple.� This began with his first home computer, the Apple II. Although Disney had an agreement with HP, Bruce started the Disney MacIntosh User Group. Later, it would be called the Mickey Mac Club, with the motto, �Changing the world one mouse at a time.�

In the early days of personal computing, there were Apple Evangelists whose job was to create interest and enthusiasm in the relatively unknown product, Sigman-Lowery explained. She laughed that Bruce was the most passionate Apple Evangelist not on their payroll. He would hand out sheets with tips and tricks. His devotion could be forceful; on many occasions he would order users to �Use the Mouse!� rather than rely on familiar keystrokes.

Bruce�s home, Sigman-Lowery confided, was a virtual museum of Apple computers, complete with all boxes, packing materials and manuals. He even had not one, but two Newtons. And every year he eagerly looked forward to Mac World.

Sigman-Lowery recalled an eventful visit to San Francisco. As they awaited the arrival of Steve Jobs in the lobby of the W Hotel, the new Intel laptop was announced. Bruce immediately logged into the company site and began repeatedly refreshing the screen, so that at the exact moment the new devices went on sale he could order them.

She also recalled that the new laptops shipped while they were all at a meeting for the Disney family museum. Bruce tracked the shipment, headed home when he knew they had arrived, and brought them back to the next day�s meeting, just to ensure that his team would arrive fully loaded with the very latest technology.

Bruce�s middle name, said Paula, was not �Gotta have it.� It was �Gotta have it now.�

To further illustrate this, she told of Bruce�s adventure in getting a new Apple product that test marketed in Jackson, Mississippi. He first gave his credit card number to the local Sears store, then headed to the airport, booking his flight as he drove.

He was also among the first to purchase a Segway. He would drive it around the campus of Walt Disney Imagineering in Glendale. Once he arrived late to a meeting, and completely derailed the subject at hand by arriving with his new high tech gadget.

He had every model of the iPod, Sigman-Lowery noted. He loved high definition video, and had a state-of-the-art system in his home. He also collected robots, from a robot dog, to robot dinosaur, to a Roomba vacuum cleaner. Just a few weeks earlier, Sigman-Lowery recalled, Bruce showed them the latest miniature humanoid robot. Later that day, she said, the announcement was in the news. Because of Bruce, she said, all his friends had iPhones. �I will think of Bruce whenever I use my Mac products,� she concluded.