When Mary Ellen Bruns was carried by firefighters from her smoldering house in early February, and soon declared dead, neighbors on the short dead-end Poe Street in central Berkeley were shocked, saddened, but not completely surprised.
Bruns, 74, was a bit of a mystery woman, neighbors said, someone they knew but didn’t really know. Clearly, she’d been struggling for a while, they said, mentally and physically, and didn’t appear close to family or friends. A loner.
They did what they could to help: with food, rides, even banking. And, as Bruns declined — her power was out for months before she died — they called the city and Alameda County asking for help…