Bill Brasses Eulogy given by his dear friend Lynn Sansone:

Bill told me his Grandma once asked him, “Know why people die?”  He said “No Grandma why?”  She said “To make room for somebody else.”  He thought she was pretty smart.
Bill was born December 1, 1928.  He grew up in Maplewood Missouri.  He worked at White Castle when it was on the corner of Sutton and Manchester where the Katz Drug Store used to be.  He gave out too many castles to the girls and they fired him.  Imagine that!   Bill did love women, even back then as a kid!
After that he worked at Wallace Pencil Company.  He wondered “How did people work before the pencil was invented?”  Different inventions, even the most minute intrigued him.  “What would life be like without the safety pin”, he asked.
Bill served in the military as did all men back then.  He was in the Navy and was Navy Seabee and served in World War II.
He worked for many years in a machine shop working with steel as a machinist. 
He met the love of his life Jeannie. Bill and Jeannie had a farm in Bonne Terre.  They grew crops and plowed their fields.  They also bred horses and loved to ride them. 
They purchased a night club called “Footloose”.  Okay it was a strip club. Bill was in his glory!  Next door they had a gas station and small convenience store to help keep the money rolling in.  Bill was always finding ways to make money.
Well enough was enough and they decided to sell the farm and almost everything they owned.  They packed up and moved to a houseboat on the river in Woodland Marina.  Yes, they were almost like the Beverly Hillbillies.  They never owned a boat in their life!  They named the boat “Footloose” after their night club and named their dinghy “Lil Dancer”.  They loved living on that boat and they loved each other very much.
I remember celebrating a birthday for Jeannie at Boschertown.  Her brother carried in a small basket and set it in front of her.  Low and behold, in that basket was a little white dog.  You should have seen the look on Bill’s face.  He said, “Oh my God!” as he often did and covered his face, peaking through his fingers. He said, “We can’t have a dog on a boat!” Boy was he mad.  But as it turns out, Skipper ended up being Bill’s best friend. 
Jeannie had kidney problems and she routinely had to have dialysis.  One day when coming home after her treatment, she was driving on Elm, and she ran into a tractor trailer.  Jeannie died instantly.   I’ll never forget that night.  At that point in time, Bill’s life changed and he turned to Skipper.  They went everywhere together.  When Skipper couldn’t go in where Bill was, he’d keep the car running for the A/C or heat so he’d be comfortable.  They were best of buddies!
Bill never left a stone unturned. He was always active.  He said he really appreciated life and did something different every day.  He liked to create new things. 
Bill also loved talking with people and sharing his experiences.  As Krista would say, “He was the greatest story teller ever!”  So be thinking of those stories because we want you to share those with all of us a little later on.
He was a wise old man who loved to share his words of wisdom.  He once told me “Trust is the most worthiest thing in the world.  It all comes down to trust.  Don’t waste time listening to someone you don’t trust.  
Greed is the biggest sin in the world.  If you look at all the histories, greed was dominated.  I would imagine if people would share what they have instead of taking from people that have stuff, we’d all be a lot better off. 
He said, “I’m not as good as I could have been but I do love all the people in the world. “   
He also said life is unexpected.  Always expect the unexpected.

Bill loved to live life.   The poem that is on the card that Greg Sadowski so beautifully designed  is one that Donna Smith found.  When we read it we both thought this holds so true to Bill.  He lived every day for that day.  And I know he would want each one of you to do the same. 

During the last few months Bill struggled to continue as best as he could.  He never gave up.  One day recently, I told him it was important to me to know that he was okay with God.  So I asked him, are you okay with God Bill?” He said, Don’t worry.  Me and the Big Guy up there are pretty tight.  And I believe that.  Bill was at peace with God.  Just on Tuesday, the day before he died, a dear friend of ours, Steve Gilbert was visiting Bill and Steve asked if they could pray together and what was his favorite prayer.  Bill asked if they could say the Lord’s  prayer.  It was the prayer he said most often.   I’d like all of us to share this prayer together. 

Our Father who art in Heaven
Hallowed by Thy Name
Thy Kingdom Come
Thy Will be done
On earth as it is in Heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespassed against us
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil.
For Thyne is the Kingdom, and the Power and the Glory Forever
Amen

Steve was not able to be here today but I talked to him and asked him if he had any suggestions on what I could say today.  He shared this with me.

It has been said that life is what happens while we are waiting for something important to happen.  NONE of us will get out of here alive!  There is a saying when someone is very ill, that they are at death’s door.  That’s all death is, it’s a doorway.  A transition from this physical life to our promised eternal life.  Just like birth is a transition from our first unborn stage to life on earth, so to death is our “birth” into eternal life.  It may be a scary step but there is nothing to be afraid of.  All we must do is accept Our Lord’s ultimate gift.  If we hold out our hands to accept His gift, it is ours.  But it is a step we must take in order to receive it.  It is the ultimate “LEAP OF FAITH”.  As Buzz Lightyear said,
“To Infinity & Beyond”.

       I think that besides having a  loving family by our side, the greatest gift that God can give any of us after the gift of His own Son is the gift of true friends.  Someone to share our greatest successes & our saddest disappointments with.  We are surrounded by Bill’s friends.  Bill was blessed with many friends.  AND WE WERE TRULY BLESSED BY KNOWING HIM!  We will miss you Bill.  But we know that it is you that have won and we will see you again.

Bill and Jeannie both donated their bodies to St. Louis University.  In memory of the joys and the love that Bill had for his friends and the river we as that each of you take a flower and toss it into the river.  When we had the memorial service for Jeannie we also each threw a flower into the river.  Let this be a symbol of them being reunited again.