HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Longtime Hutchinson Correctional Facility Warden Louis Bruce died Friday morning after a long illness. He was 75.

Bruce was the warden at HCF from 1999 until his retirement in the summer of 2007. He was instrumental in implementing numerous programs that benefited inmates and the community including the wild mustang program with the Bureau of Land Management.

One of his best-known endeavors was using inmates and prison resources to renovate Ye Old Mill ride at the Kansas State Fair, preserving a ride that would have surely been dismantled if not for Bruce’s efforts.

Services for Bruce will be Wednesday, Oct. 9, at 10 a.m. at Higher Praise Church in Sterling. Visitation is from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8, at Birzer Funeral Home in Lyons.

Burial will take place at Wise Cemetery in Winchester, Kansas, Thursday, Oct. 10, at 10 a.m.

Funeral arrangements are being handled by Birzer Funeral Home in Lyons.