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Bruce Armitage with a Carbon Piper Cub plane.
Bruce Armitage has only been a council member since Nov. 30 and has only had one official council meeting, but he is looking forward to taking on this new chapter and challenge in his life.
Born in Sudbury, Canada, Bruce moved to Arizona when he was 15 years old. Bruce’s father had always dreamed of living in Arizona. Magma Copper Company was hiring a lot of Canadians at the time, and Bruce’s father got a job with the mining company. The family settled in the town of Superior. While going to school Bruce worked at the Arco station pumping gas and changing oil. When he graduated, he made a bold choice to go into the Army. The choice was bold because it was during the Vietnam war and Bruce, still a Canadian citizen, volunteered to go into Army.
While stationed in Alaska, Bruce worked as a flight operations specialist. Bruce got interested in planes at a young age. According to Bruce, “When I was a kid there was a lake at the end of the street I lived on, and in the summertime the airplanes fly off on floats, and in the winter time they would fly in on skis. I used to sit out there and watch them.” It was while in Alaska that Bruce got his pilot’s license.
It was also in Alaska where Bruce started dating his now wife Barbara “Tweedy.” It was an interesting twist of fate they met while both in Alaska, since Barbara is originally from Superior. The two had crossed paths a few times when they were in school in Superior, and Bruce had even worked for Barbara’s dad at the gas station, but it wasn’t until that fateful meeting in Alaska that the two became a couple. They got married, and when Bruce got out of the service they came back to Superior.
Bruce was keen to work for the Federal Aviation Administration, but he hadn’t realized because of security clearance issues you have to be an American to work for the FAA. So while he went about getting his American Citizenship Bruce worked two jobs — he worked for the smelter, and he worked back at the Arco gas station. Once he was an official American Citizen he took his civil service test and, after passing, was picked up by the FAA.
Bruce became an Air Traffic Controller. He worked in California and Seattle and then in 1981 moved back to work in Phoenix. After several years, Bruce moved from Air Traffic Controller to Supervisor, eventually becoming the manager of Falcon Tower in Mesa. His work at Falcon Tower brought him Regional and Federal recognition when he got a personal award for the Regional Evaluation and a Facility Award for the National Evaluation. He retired from Falcon Tower in 1998.
Eventually, Bruce and his wife found themselves moving back in Superior. It was love of the small-town community that brought the two back. Bruce says he and his wife, “Started going to council meetings just to be informed on what was going on in the community.” Bruce got on the planning and zoning commission. He says being on that commission, “Gets you more involved in the politics of the community.” Bruce also became the Chairman of the Airport Advisory Committee.
It was during the big upheaval that was going on with the town government last year that everyone around him started to encourage Bruce to run for council. Bruce has had a lot of positions of responsibility, but he had never done any town politics before. He says, “I think it’s going to be challenging, but I also think it’s going to be very rewarding.” His biggest strength he feels is that he doesn’t have an agenda. Bruce says, “I just want to do what is best for the town.” Bruce is confident he can do the job. “It’s all new, but I’ve realized I didn’t know anything about air traffic control when I looked at the first scope,” He says. “I didn’t know the difference between a line and an airplane, and then five years later I was a journeyman air traffic controller.” Bruce is a man used to stepping up to whatever challenges face him.
The Superior Sun will be introducing our readers to the new faces in town and school government over the next couple of weeks.
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