Thomas "Tommy" Bruen was the most famous member of the infamous Bruen family and certainly the smartest. He was born with a severe mental impairment. The doctors told his mother he would not live long, yet he died just 3 months short of his 80th birthday. He was our own "rain man": he could not read or write but he could remember every detail about everyone and about every day he was alive. We grew accustomed to asking him to validate dates or events, and he was never wrong.

At a certain age, his mother became too old to take care of him so he moved in with his brother Pat (deceased) and sister-in-law Irene (who he called "Buss" and is now 93), and their seven children and any number of other strays and people who lived in the house on Outer Drive in Dearborn. Irene cared for Tommy like another one of her children for more than 30 years. Tommy was a very brittle diabetic and Irene - a Registered Nurse - measured his blood sugar and administered insulin twice a day for that whole time. She got so she could tell how much insulin he needed just by looking at him and talking to him. When he was older, he was able to move into a directed group home, where he did quite well and continued to make friends. But he never received the same level of care that Irene gave him.

While he lived in Dearborn, Tommy would go for walks every day. He walked every single day for miles and miles; he would be gone for hours at a time, and that became normal. He would meet people along the way and engage them in conversation and became known in the area. People looked out for him, and he would offer to pray for them, which he did. This made for marathon prayer sessions every day where we could hear him, out loud, listing his prayer requests that went on and on, from memory. Once you were on Tommy's prayer list, you never dropped off; the list just got longer.

One day he was gone on a walk for so long, the police were notified to look for him. They eventually found him on his way back from walking from Dearborn, across the Ambassador Bridge, to Windsor! He made it back to a diner on Michigan Avenue where he went in and ordered a big meal and ate well. Of course, he did not know that he had to pay for the meal never having had to in the past, so the owner called the police and thus he was found. By the time Pat got to the diner to get Tommy and pay for the meal, the staff had fallen in love with him and would not accept payment. There are many stories like this that could only have happened to Tommy. His guardian angel was always there and working full time.

It is hard to remember if he was ever anything but happy. He had the most optimistic outlook on life and was a source of great joy to all of us. Tommy had imaginary friends that he would innocently introduce to our wide-eyed friends who would come over to the house. They, like everyone else, came to know and love him as a normal part of an abnormal family. His imaginary dog, Lassie, would often bark when one of us was in trouble or if there was a disagreement.

As Tommy goes to the Lord, there are many many friends and family who will be sad but will also smile and nod as they remember their own Tommy story. He was hard to forget, and we never will. God Bless you Tommy as you enter into Heaven where you certainly will go. Say hello to your brother for us and please keep all of us on your prayer list.

In state, Tuedsay, September 08, 2026, at 11:30am until the 12pm noon Funeral Service at Church of the Divine Child, 1055 N. Silvery Lane at Wilson in Dearborn.