John Earl Brubaker

John Earl Brubaker was born on October 27, 1939, in his grandmother's house, in Jonesboro, Indiana, to Mary Helen (Greene) Brubaker and Howard Dale Brubaker. As a child, his family moved around a lot, living in Chicago while his father completed seminary, and then North Manchester, Indiana; Pioneer, Ohio; and Muncie, Indiana, among other places, while his father preached at different Church of the Brethren parishes. Along the way, his brother, Curtis Dale, was born. The family settled in Daleville, in the Muncie, Indiana area, where John spent his teenage years. John's mother was a huge influence in his life. She was whip-smart and could always be found either reading her Bible or doing one of her many handicrafts, such as knitting, crocheting, or needle pointing. She was a church organist and worked for decades at Ball State University.

As a young man, John farmed with his extended family. If you knew John well, you likely heard about the time he managed to run over his own knee with the tractor. (No one ever said he was a good farmer.) Thank goodness he turned his attention to other endeavors. He moved on to the Ball Glass factory for a time, and until his death, had an extensive collection of their glassware. Upon graduation from high school, his father offered him a choice: a car or a college education. He chose the education and promptly enrolled in Manchester College, in North Manchester, Indiana, where he earned his Bachelor's degree in Psychology and Sociology, with a minor in Religion and Philosophy. It's unclear whether John was a participant in hijinks at college, but he had some entertaining stories about undergraduates introducing livestock to the hallowed halls of the university and the fact that it's possible to get cows to go upstairs but much harder to get them to go down.

Having been offered a scholarship by the State of Indiana to attend graduate school, he enrolled in the social work program at Indiana University, Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI – pronounced Ooey Pooey), where he met Janet Gayle Stoughton. In 1965, between school years in their social work program, the two married. The country was soon to be embroiled in the conflict in Vietnam. Having been raised in the Brethren church, John was a conscientious objector and served his wartime duty at a placement at Fort Wayne State School. After receiving his graduate degree, he began his career with a stint at Beatty Hospital, in Westville, Indiana.

John and Janet moved around a bit. When they lived in Michigan City, Indiana, they took up sailing on Lake Michigan. On one notable occasion, they were sailing their catamaran when a storm blew up suddenly. The catamaran crested a steep wave and followed it all the way down, diving deep into the water and flipping upside down. John and Janet stayed afloat by riding the pontoons until the Coast Guard came to their rescue.

In 1972, while living in Marion, Indiana, Erin Aylene Brubaker was born, the first of two girls. Alyson Elaine followed in 1976. John and Janet made life-long friends in Marion. John was known to knock on his friend Ed Breen's door on a Saturday morning, two glasses in hand, and say "Want to drink?" This may surprise those of you who knew him as a teetotaler in later life, but he did his share of carousing as a young man. It was only when his daughters came on the scene, that he decided that baby bottles were serving him better than whiskey bottles and he quit cold turkey, something of which he was very proud.

While living in Marion, John built the Grant Blackford Mental Health Center from the ground up in a very literal sense. He fundraised for the center. Then he hired the contractors and oversaw the work on the building. While that was happening, he designed the programs, which would operate out of the building and hired the staff for those programs.

He worked for a brief stint in Ohio, before realizing how much he truly despised the cold winters of the Midwest. Thus began a job search. He got multiple offers in cold states, which he turned down. And then came the offer from a much warmer state, Texas. The whole family piled into the car and headed to Austin during an ice storm. John worked tirelessly, building programs and constructing more mental health facilities for the Austin-Travis County Mental Health Mental Retardation (MHMR) Center. He bought one building on the waterfront in downtown Austin, back when it was a small town, which years later would sell for many millions of dollars, all to the benefit of the mental health programs in Austin. In his spare time, he ferried his girls around to various school activities and jogged. He participated in many a Capitol 10K in downtown Austin, with his wife and daughters cheering him on from the crowds.

John went on to work in San Angelo, Texas, where he and Janet moved after his girls had flown the coop. Unfortunately, both John's daughters had moved themselves to a different snowy state, Colorado, so John and Janet followed, moving to Fort Collins. Running around after his grandchildren, Elijah and Rachel Price, kept him warm. And after Alyson moved back to Texas, producing more grandchildren, Abigail, Elijah, Riley, and Caleb Johnson, he was really able to get warm again, if only during his visits.

While living in Colorado, John joined Foothills Unitarian Church. This is notable, because John was not a religious man. After being called out by his father as a young child for talking in church on multiple occasions and other indignities, which come with being a preacher's kid, John had a beef with organized religion. But he was willing to try the Unitarians, and soon found many like-minded people. He and Janet participated in the Dinners in the Home program, where they made many wonderful friends. They also joined the adult discussion group, where he found many intellectuals with whom he could argue about politics and the state of the world. Basically, heaven for John, who loved that sort of thing.

John and Janet also joined the Poudre Golden K Kiwanis club, where they formed closed friendships, learned a lot about the community from the various speakers at club meetings, and did a whole lot of good works. They raised money by selling packets of peanuts outside grocery stores. They put together backpacks full of school supplies for low-income kids. They hosted pancake breakfasts for veterans. And they helped to fund many worthwhile community programs to help disadvantaged children.

No man is perfect, and John had his challenges. He battled major depression his entire life. But it is a credit to him that he used his experience to fuel his commitment to building mental health resources for others. In his final years, John was diagnosed with dementia. The disease stole his intellect and his drive, but it never took his sense of humor. At the end, his daughters would ask if they could give him a hand with something, and instead of replying, he would just clap, twinkle in his eye.

John died at Pathways Hospice, in Fort Collins, Colorado, on Saturday, October 12, 2024, just shy of his 85th birthday, surrounded by his loved ones. Thank you to the staff and volunteers at Pathways for the tremendous care they provided John in his final days. He is survived by his loving wife, Janet, and their daughter, Erin Price, her husband Stefan, and their kids, Elijah and Rachel, and their daughter, Alyson Johnson, her husband, Brad, and their kids, Abigail, Elijah, Riley, and Caleb. He is also survived by his brother, Curtis Brubaker, his wife Debbie, and their kids, Curtis Jr., Christie, and Stephanie, and their children and grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, please do two things: make a donation to one of John's favorite charities, Heifer International, and have a bowl of ice cream. Blue Bell was John's favorite.

A Celebration of Life is planned for Saturday, November 23, 2024, at 1:00pm at Foothills Unitarian Church, 1815 Yorktown Ave., Fort Collins, CO 80526.