If he were still alive, Allen Wayne Braun would have turned 76 today.  Unfortunately, the Lord called him home just a couple of years ago, but we still take time to remember him on the day of his birth.  Many things come to mind when I think about Allen, the terms father, loving husband, and friend come to mind, but he was a lot more than that.

Allen Braun was born on a farm outside of Fort Wayne, Indiana, on December 18, 1946.  He was the third of four, the youngest of three boys with the sister following a couple of years later.  It has been said that his formative years were extremely hard.  Physical abuse from his father and older brothers occurred more frequently than not, his mother joining in with the emotional side as he grew, and growing on a farm, missing school was all too frequent.

Unfortunately, finishing high school wasn’t in the cards … but Marcia was.

Marcia Lynn Bazinet met Allen through her brother.  She was pretty, kind, and outgoing.  She loved playing baseball with her brothers, watching her Indiana Hoosiers play basketball, and adored this strong, blue eyed, blond haired, farm boy.  It was her kindness that first attracted Allen to this accountant’s daughter, and they were soon inseparable!

It wasn’t long before a romance bloomed.  Stories would be told years later of Allen paying her visits with manure still caked on his boots.  He was so captivated by this young lady that he couldn’t bother getting cleaned up before he’d come calling!  Years later Marcia would tell stories of working the second shift in the local hospital where Allen would wait for her shift to end nearly every night to ensure she made it home safely!

At that time, the late 1970’s, Briargate was considered to be on the outskirts, much of which was still ranch land, thus few would have considered building a home so far out at that time.  But Allen chose Briargate after making a trip to City Hall.  He quickly learned that city planners were pushing growth in that direction, which proved to be a great decision!  At the time, a third of an acre lot in Briargate was inexpensive and homes were cheap.  Today, Briargate lies in the busy north end of town and the house is worth nearly 7 times what the young couple had paid for it!  But at this point we’d all rather have him here than his home and memory.

Allen continued working a lot of factory jobs, sometimes three jobs at once, so Marcia could stay home with the kids.  After finishing his career in a job working on commercial printing presses, he briefly worked in companion care, helping the elderly with day-to-day tasks.  This was a job he adored, but it was a career that was cut short by a stroke of his own.  Fortunately, he was able to recover much of what he lost, but it wasn’t enough where he could go back to work.  He qualified he for disability, retired, and stayed home with his beautiful bride.

While Marcia spend much of her life as a stay home mother, she went back to work after the youngest finished high school, taking a job as a lunch lady in the elementary school just two doors away.  While it was a part-time job, she loved every minute of it!

The family celebrated when their marriage crested the fifty-year mark, but like any other relationships, there were more than a few good times and bad some periods along the way.   Stories where money was tight, child getting out of line, three unfortunate miscarriages, and quite enjoyably, Marcia’s parents eventually joining them in Colorado as well.  Fortunately, even with the tough times, the Braun family always seemed to find a way.  It was apparent that Marcia was the true matriarch and Allen the backbone of the family, Together, they ran a tight ship when needed, remaining the strong, loving parents throughout.  They were truly an amazing team.

Aimee fondly speaks of rules they had growing up.  Rules that included none of the children getting their own car until they turned 18 (and they had to pay for it themselves), the boys hair was not to touch their collar while living under his roof (Mark pushed that once, and failed), and Aimee wasn’t allowed to get her ears pierced until she too was eighteen.  Marcia was able to talk him into changing his mind, lowering the pierced ears by a couple years.  While he permitted it, Allen had quite a fit the day he came home to find his 13-year-old angel with those little earrings.  He wasn’t happy, you could tell, but he never said a word.

As time went by, his children grew, and for the most part started began, got married, and started families of their own.  Jeff, the oldest, always talked about starting a family of his own, but being the shy, introvert he would become, he rarely seemed interested in getting out to meet anyone.  His three siblings often joked that when their parents would go to be with the Lord, realtors would list him as an accessory to the house. 

Whoever would buy the place would always have the opportunity to set an extra plate on the table for dinner.  They would be able to explain televisions that would appear to turn on by themselves and odd noises coming out of the basement.

We could hear the conversations as well.  Friends would say, “We love your new home, but we’ve got this feeling it may be haunted.”

“Why?” the new owner would respond.  “Because the coffee pot turned on by itself or there’s a weird looking guy standing in the corner gawking at us?  No, that’s Jeff.  He came with the house.  If he becomes a little much just ask him to mow the lawn, he’ll disappear for hours.  The lawn won’t be mowed, but he’ll disappear for at least a little while.”

But when you got to know Allen, you did realize he loved his coffee, loved his family, loved the Lord, and loved watching the news on TV.  He would talk quite frequently about farming and everything that went with it.  He was quite fond of everything associated with farming, even with the associated abuses he endured as a child.

Allen was also extremely generous, very easy to get along with, and when you got to know his sense of humor, he was quite funny.  Once we overheard him picking on Jeff about how his lack of a love life and that maybe he “might consider dating men.”  Everyone within earshot that day laughed hysterically, poor Jeff taken aback by his father’s comment simply sat there and blushed.  While today, such a joke may be considered mean, coming from Allen in that day, it was truly hilarious. 

I would meet Allen in 1999, unfortunately I don’t exactly remember which month.  Aimee and I had been seeing each other and she wanted to introduce me to her family.  Like any introduction between a parent and significant other, this meeting was obviously an important one.  Aimee told me later that they were impressed how polite I’d been. When she told me this, “Who, me?” was the first thing that came to my mind.