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Sunday school teacher loved God, Bulldogs

By Kelly Jasper

Staff Writer

Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2009

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It was past his bedtime, but Cason Bruker wasn't about to miss the end of a football game.

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Cason and Jane Bruker

He stayed up late Saturday to watch his beloved Georgia Bulldogs run over Georgia Tech.

He grinned at the 30-24 upset, then said it was time for bed.

"He never really woke up again after that. He passed about midnight Sunday," said the Rev. Greg DeLoach, the pastor of First Baptist Church. Mr. Bruker was 88.

The Augusta native and Army veteran was 13 when he joined First Baptist. He became its youngest deacon at 27, but Mr. Bruker was best known for Sunday school. He taught the Cason Bruker Bible Class for 60 years.

"He's mentored generations of men," the Rev. DeLoach said.

The class was strictly for men and was always taught out of the King James Version Bible.

It was one of Mr. Bruker's two great passions, said David Hudson, an Augusta attorney and a church trustee who joined the class 25 years ago.

"Outside of his family, he loved the Sunday school class and the Georgia Bulldogs," Mr. Hudson said. "He was like your favorite uncle. He was charming and warm and gruff and hard-headed. He could tease, but you always knew it was out of affection. He had a favorite saying, when someone would make a point, he would always say, 'Well, you have the right to be wrong.' That's just the way he was."

Tony Atkins was one of a dozen members of the class when he joined 45 years ago. More than 70 men are enrolled now, and about 50 attend each week.

Until his retirement from the class two years ago, Mr. Bruker carefully prepared lessons each week. On Mondays, he would call every member who missed class.

"The first Sunday I went, I knew I'd never leave," Mr. Atkins said. "He was a unique combination of personalities. He was very straightforward, to the point, even dogmatic with his beliefs and feelings. He was pretty unyielding with his feelings about Jesus."

Mr. Bruker served in the Pacific during World War II and earned three Bronze Stars. He studied at the University of Georgia on the GI Bill and earned a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1948. Except for his years in the military and at college, he lived his entire life in Augusta.

He married his wife, Jane, a Georgia graduate, in 1946. They had two sons and six grandchildren.

He fondly referred to his wife as his "right arm and left leg." She describes him as a model husband for 63 years, a role model and a difficult man to live up to for her sons and the many men in the community he taught.

The Rev. DeLoach met Mr. Bruker and his wife on his second day as pastor when he took the reins at First Baptist four years ago. His first pastoral call was to Mrs. Bruker in the hospital.

"He was this distinguished man sitting there in a Georgia Bulldog tie. He so cared and loved his wife," the Rev. DeLoach said. "He was so hospitable. I was there to help comfort them, but he was the one that made me feel like I had been pastor here for decades."

Mr. Bruker developed close ties with the church leadership and staff, including the Rev. Jack Robinson, who was pastor of the church until 1974.

He recalls his first impression of Mr. Bruker in 1953, when the Rev. Robinson was called to the church. Mr. Bruker served on the pastoral search committee.

"He was a young, dynamic churchman. Loyal and dedicated. He was more than a deacon. He was involved in everything, and that Sunday school class, that's a monumental task when you think of it. To prepare a lesson and teach it every week is just remarkable," the Rev. Robinson said. "You don't find many cats like that anymore."

Reach Kelly Jasper at (706) 823-3552 or kelly.jasper@augustachronicle.com.

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