John Brachear

WACO – The fourth of five siblings, John Otto Brachear left the family farm to go into the U.S. Air Force and get a college education. He became an electrical engineer and worked at IBM for more than 25 years. He then opened his own computer networking firm to serve companies and small-town school districts for another 25 years. Mr. Brachear, 74, died Saturday, March 16 of congestive heart failure.

The youngest son of a corn farmer, Mr. Brachear was born in the aptly named town of Cornland, Illinois. His mother took him at age 2 to meet her friend’s newborn daughter, Ann Greenfield, whose family had come to visit. The two played together during every summer vacation.

Mr. Brachear graduated from Mt. Pulaski High School in 1962, where he played basketball. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, where he worked in air traffic control radar maintenance. He was stationed in several places, including the Azores, Goldsboro, N.C. and Biloxi, Mississippi.

After completing his military service, he returned to Illinois to work for IBM. In the spring of 1967, he reconnected with Ann, when they both happened to be in Chicago. They were married by August and stayed married for more than 51 years.

While his wife pursued her career in Texas, Mr. Brachear earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Lamar University in Beaumont. He then returned to IBM. In addition to Texas, his career took them to Florida and North Carolina, where their daughters Manya and Cara were born respectively. After he retired from IBM, the family returned to Texas and settled in Waco in 1993.

Following in his father Carl’s footsteps, Mr. Brachear became a Mason at the Mt. Pulaski Masonic Lodge. He also took up his father’s passion for woodworking, building furniture and finishing projects that Carl had started, including rocking horses for John’s grandchildren. He relished time outdoors, such as hiking and taking long drives to admire the bluebonnets.

Indoors, he enjoyed reading thrillers, solving technology glitches of any kind and watching college basketball, especially the Duke University Blue Devils. The team always occupied the center of his March Madness brackets.

He had a mischievous streak, a marvelously irreverent sense of humor, and a penchant for pranks. He delighted in April Fool’s Day, but Christmas was his favorite holiday. He looked great in a white beard and red suit.

A doting and protective brother, father, grandfather, and husband, Mr. Brachear valued education, above all. Becoming a success and championing the women in his family–both professionally and personally—were constant priorities.

“I have had a lot of goals in my life, some of which I have met and some that I have not, but the one goal I have had is to instill love and kindness in my girls, and that family is one of the most important things in life,” he wrote to his siblings, nieces and nephews after his daughter Manya’s wedding. “I actually think that I have achieved that goal.”

In addition to his wife Ann, he is survived by his daughters Manya Brachear Pashman and her husband Howard of Verona, New Jersey; Cara Fisher and her husband Zachary of Waco; brothers Carl Brachear Jr. of Monroe, Wisconsin and Jerry Brachear and his wife Virginia of Saginaw, Michigan, sisters Rita Stoll and her husband Darrell of Charlottesville, Virginia; and Marcy Thompson and her husband David of Newark, Illinois; brother-in-law David Greenfield and his wife Vera of Austin, Texas; three adoring grandchildren Max Philip Pashman, Rose Marguerite Pashman and Brock Alexander Fisher; and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Marguerite and Carl Brachear; his mother- and father-in-law Betty and Philip Greenfield; and his brother-in-law Jim Greenfield.

Despite his health struggles, which included congestive heart failure and a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer in October, Mr. Brachear never stopped fighting and never stopped laughing.

A memorial service will take place later this summer on the Brachear family farm in Cornland.

Donations in his memory can be made to the Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest Foundation and designated for the Congestive Heart Failure Clinic, for which the family is immensely grateful.