Funeral for Charles "Bruce" Gamble, 88, of Decatur will be Saturday, June 15, 2013, at 2 p.m. at Roselawn Funeral Home with the Reverend Rudy Guess of First United Methodist Church officiating. Burial will be in Roselawn Cemetery. Visitation will be from noon to 2 p.m. at the funeral home.
Mr. Gamble died Wednesday, June 12, 2013. Bruce lived an incredible and full life. He was born August 4, 1924, in Remlap, Alabama, to Anderson Eugene and Mary Bertha Gamble. Bruce attended Woodlawn High School in Birmingham where he played baseball and football. He had a 40-year career pitching fastpitch softball all over the world in the industrial leagues and for the army. Bruce pitched and managed his army team to the All-Army Championship and to the Softball World Championship where he pitched 19 scoreless innings in a 1-0 loss to the world champion Clearwater Bombers. In 2010, Bruce was unanimously selected for induction into the Central Alabama Amateur Softball Hall of Fame in Birmingham.
Bruce served his country for 24 years as special operations Army Ranger and paratrooper jumpmaster instructor. He served during three wars: World War II, the Korean Conflict and the Vietnam War. In the 1960s, he returned to Woodlawn High School as the ROTC instructor. After retiring from the U.S. Army, he started Scottsboro Glass Company and was a partner in North Alabama Glass Company and Huntsville Glass Company.
He was an outgoing and active member in a number of local civic organizations including the Austin Lions Club, VFW, Elks Club, and a founding member and past president of the Fraternal Order of Eagles.
Mr. Gamble was preceded in death by his wife of 47 years, Marian Kennedy Gamble. He is survived by two sisters, Helen O'Barr and Imogene Ready, both of Birmingham; three sons, Kenneth Gamble and wife, Sharon, Kevin Gamble and Brian Gamble and wife, Denise Andrew, all of Decatur. He has six grandchildren, Jackson Gamble, Georgia Gamble, Alison Gamble, Kay Gamble, Brittany Fontaine and Morgan Gamble, all of Decatur, and ten great-grandchildren.
Pallbearers will be Johnny Atkins, Don Dickens, Jim Little, Russell King, Sid Morris, Tony Murphy and John Randy Presswood.
In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully requests memorial donations be made to Hospice of the Valley, 214 Johnston Street SE, Decatur, AL 35601 or Meals on Wheels, 1510 4th Avenue SE, Decatur, AL 35601.
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