via O’Neill Hayes Funeral Home

Colonel Gordon Mitchell Bruce Livingston (USMC, Retired), 92, died on August 10, 2019 in the Rhode Island Veteran’s Home in Bristol, RI. Bruce was born in Richmond, Virginia on July 29, 1927 to Edith (McKernan) and Bernard B. Livingston. An Eagle Scout, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in December of 1944, altering his birth certificate to show his birthday in January rather than July because the Marine recruiter told him the sooner, he turned 18 the sooner he would get into the war.  After World War II and service in China, Bruce graduated from the Severn School in Severna Park, MD and attended Johns Hopkins University. He was a “mustang”—a Marine who rises through the enlisted ranks and becomes an officer. He left college to serve in the Korean War as a captain, where he received a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star with Combat “V”. He later graduated from and received a master’s degree from George Washington University. He fought in Vietnam where he was awarded a second Bronze Star. The crowning achievement of his military career was his duty as Commander of the Ninth Marine Division in Okinawa, Japan, shortly before his retirement in 1974. In his second career he moved to Rhode Island and became a boatbuilder and marine surveyor, working into his eighties.

Bruce married the late Lucille Kavanaugh of Annapolis, MD in 1950. He married Anne Russell Maxwell in 1982 and settled permanently in Jamestown, RI. He was active in the community, including serving as President of the Jamestown Senior Center, Commander of Post 9447 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Senior Warden of Trinity Church, Newport. He was a member of the Conanicut Yacht Club and the New York Yacht Club.

Bruce is survived by his wife and four children: Gordon Mitchell Bruce Livingston, Jr. of Taiwan ROC, Jody McKernan Livingston of Newport, Mary Allerton Livingston of Washington, DC, and Phoebe Hayes Livingston residing in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. He also leaves three grandchildren, Kavanaugh McKernan Livingston, Katharine Livingston Luther, and Oliver Bernard Lopez. He was the brother of the late Joan Zshoche of Nutley, NJ.

A memorial service will be held Friday, August 23rd at 11 AM at Trinity Church, One Queen Anne Square, Newport. In lieu of flowers, donations are welcome to Trinity Church.