Mrs. Pauline E. Bruch, 87, of Southbury died Wednesday April 13, 2011 at her home with her family by her side. She was the wife of Dr. Paul R. Bruch.
Mrs. Bruch was born January 22, 1924 in Middletown, a daughter of the late Gerard and Concettina (Roccapriore) Amato. She worked in a factory that made ammunition boxes during WWII in Portland, Connecticut. Following the war she went to work at Travelers in the accounting department until her marriage. Pauline and her husband then moved to New Haven and worked in the Yale law library and later worked in a precedent breaking study called "Rooming In", a study in which a number of researchers followed mothers and newborns during their time in the delivery suite. Rooming - In service concluded that mothers should keep their babies in their rooms with them instead of in a nursery down the hall. Following the birth of her first child, Diane Stephens, she remained at home to raise her child. They lived in Quonset Village next to the Yale Bowl.
Yale medical students are required to submit a thesis of their choosing to get their M.D. license. Pauline assisted her husband on gathering information from Rooming-In service which was published with the help of IBM computers using the punched card system. Following her husband's graduation the whole family, now 3 children, moved to San Francisco, California where her husband completed his remaining internship years. They then returned to New England and settled in the small town of Franklin, New Hampshire, where Dr. Bruch opened a solo practice and again she was of great assistance to establishing his practice by answering the phones and ascertaining his location to get him from house call to house call. They lived in Franklin for 3 years and added another 3 girls to their family.
When her husband first entered the medical practice, the doctor saw patients any age but as time passed and the family increased to now member 6 children, causing the good doctor to limit his practice to treating only children which, in turn, caused him to leave his practice and her returned again to San Francisco to Stanford specialty service where he completed most of his Pediatric specialty training. Nearly completed he again came "home" to Connecticut and Yale to finish his training. Polly meanwhile helped with the repeated coast to coast moves while also raising their now 6 children. Such moves required the patience of a Saint combined with the strength of a horse. While Paul drive, Polly kept the children busy in the back of the station wagon all the long days and nights until they eventually ended up back at Yale where the three year effort to obtain perfection brought the family to the Southbury Training School where the doctor was appointed Senior Physician and moved the family to the physician's residence where they lived for 25 years before retiring and settling in Southbury. While at the Training School, to keep up with the continual search for excellence, our Doctor took on the task of taking visiting doctors through the school and also, "moon lighted" in the Waterbury Hospital Emergency Room. There his night and day struggles led Pauline to seek her own goal, a degree from Mattituck Community College. She continued the task of raising six children, helping them with studies, teaching them, one by one, to drive, in addition to assisting her husband with his many new tasks as President of the Connecticut Right to Life. Helping write the many speeches he gave to ProLife Organizations, also, to high school classes and being interviewed on many of the States radio and television news programs, etc.
In every aspect of the Family life, Pauline was at the Doctor's side helping people, relieving pain and suffering which led the good Doctor to refer to her as the "diamond from Pearl Street." This advocate of the suffering helped so many people to survive this difficult life - we shall al miss her.
In addition to her loving husband, she is survived by her five children, Diane, Paul Jr., Mary, Ruth and Martha, 36 grandchildren and 30 great grandchildren and several nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by a son, Peter, and 5 siblings: Gerry, Frank, Rose, Mary and Sebastian.

Memorials: Memorial contributions can be made in her memory to Connecticut Right to Life.

Cemetery: Mt. Olivet Cemetery

Location: Munson-Lovetere Southbury

Funeral: Our Lady of the Rosary

Services: A mass of Christian burial will be held on Monday April 18th at 11am at Our Lady of the Rosary Church, 15 Pepper St., Monroe. Entombment will follow in Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Watertown.

Visitation: Friends may call at the Southbury Funeral Home of Munson - Lovetere, 235 Main St. North, on Sunday April 17th from 4: 00 - 7: 00p.m.