When Brad arrived at West Point in July 1950 from Batavia, IL, he
was still three months short of his eighteenth birthday. He joined the Cadet Choir because he loved to sing, and in
addition, would join in a party anywhere where songs were sung. He performed his
military duties with dispatch, graduating a cadet lieutenant. He maintained high
grades with little effort and managed to achieve the highest grade point average
in the class in Military Engineering, despite spending most of his study hours
coaching others. Commonly, while walking to class with his classmates, he would
brief them on the separate homework problems for that day (“Aw, that’s just
another moment problem. See?”) and get them through the courses unscathed.
After serving a tour in Germany as a lieutenant in the Corps of
Engineers, Brad resigned from the Army to get his master’s degree in civil
engineering at the University of Illinois. Upon graduation in 1959, he moved to
San Francisco to work for the Southern Pacific Railroad. While in San Francisco,
he met June Settle. They were married in 1961 and soon moved down the peninsula
to Los Gatos, CA.
After a short employment in the county engineer’s office (where
he learned the local laws and zoning restrictions), he established his own civil
engineering business in downtown Los Gatos. His was a successful business from
its inception in 1964 until his retirement in 1997. Much of the business was in
construction of commercial and residential buildings in the rapidly growing
community.
Brad had always been interested in railroads. As a kid in
Batavia, he built model steam engines and equipment and came into his glory in
our military engineering and military history courses at West Point. He loved
designing and analyzing truss bridges, especially the wooden truss bridges
typical of our early railroads. Not long after he began his business in Los
Gatos, he met Norman Clark, who had an interest in a plot of redwood forest land
in the Santa Cruz Mountains at Felton, CA, between Los Gatos and the beach town
of Santa Cruz. They worked together to develop an old-time narrow gauge steam
railroad to carry tourists through the virgin redwood forest to the top of Bear
Mountain. It became known as the Roaring Camp and Big Trees Railroad and was one
of Brad’s favorite places. He laid out the complete roadbed with particular care
to do as little damage to the trees as possible, and he designed and supervised
the entire construction, including a number of near authentic Civil War-style
wooden trestles. Adults and children will enjoy this unique ride and experience
this authentic railroad for generations to come.
Brad was active in the Los Gatos Kiwanis Club for 30 years, where
his sense of service to his fellow man thrived. He especially loved taking the
Key Club members from Los Gatos High School on ski trips.
In retirement, he and June purchased a motor home, which became
their home for eleven years. They traveled all over the United States and
Canada, with one trip through the Copper Canyon in Mexico with the RV on a
flatbed railroad car. They returned to Los Gatos semi-annually to visit family,
friends and doctors. It was a happy, ever changing life, forever finding new
treasures to see and friends to visit. June says they actually saw everything
they wanted to see. They continued to travel and visit old friends until Brad
passed away.
June commented especially on Brad’s kindness to everyone, his
enjoyment of life, and his wonderful sense of humor (which could be delightfully
corny at times). He was always easy to get along with and very even-tempered.
At his memorial service, the minister read some quotations from
family and friends:
