David Bruce McCall

David Bruce McCall, 61, died Friday, Jan, 20 in Memphis, Tenn., where he had lived for the past several years. Born in Dalton, Ga. on April 9, 1950, to the late Gertrude Jennings McCall and John Greenhaw McCall, Bruce graduated from Dalton High School, where he played clarinet in the Catamount marching band. He enrolled at the University of Arkansas, his father’s alma mater, and then transferred to Auburn University, his sister’s alma mater, where he pledged Kappa Sigma fraternity. At Auburn, he majored in transportation and entered that field upon graduation. His career in the trucking industry took him to management positions in Ohio, Kentucky, North Carolina, Florida, South Carolina, Alabama, Virginia, Tennessee and Louisiana. While living in Asheville, N.C., he met and married the love of his life, Pamela Oakes. During much of his career in transportation, he was mentored by his role model, Joe Campbell of Memphis. In later years, he worked for Brooks Brothers and Jos. A. Banks, selling the traditional menswear he loved to wear. Regardless of where he lived, he devoted himself to his jobs, working long hours at every position he undertook. In Memphis, he devoted himself to attending St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, where the Dean, the Very Rev. William E. “Andy” Andrews, unceasingly guided and supported him throughout the last years of his life. A skilled cook, Bruce excelled at French cuisine, becoming a devotee of Julia Child’s classic cooking long before it was fashionable. Bruce and Pamela hosted many elegant dinners accompanied by her classical music, which were inevitably followed by Bruce serving as DJ for a session of the esoteric old-school R&B music he so fervently collected. In November 2011, he was involved in a serious traffic accident and never completely recovered. Bruce is survived by his sister, Mary McCall Cash, and her husband, Steve Cash, both of Decatur, Ga. and his former wife, Pamela Oakes McCall, of New Orleans, La. A memorial service will be held Sunday, Jan. 29, at 1:30 p.m. in the chapel of St. Mary’s Cathedral, Memphis. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Bruce’s memory to St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, 700 Poplar Ave., Memphis, TN 38105.