Special Music -- Amazing Grace -- Sung by Darrin Rylaarsdam, JoAnn's nephew, son of Lynda (JoAnn's sister) and Dick Rylaarsdam of George.
Eulogy — Delivered by Eric Williamson, Fred's son-in-law.
Everything has a beginning and everything has an end except love and memories. These are some memories of our beloved Fred Brim, and reading them out will bring more to mind. Weep, laugh, nod your head when you hear the spirit of truth that links them all together. These words will not be said again, these memories will not be brought up again, in such a company for such a reason. Let us say them, remember them, and share them now. Fred loved a good party, and you can be sure he is not missing this one in his honor. Consider yourselves warmly welcomed.
Wife JoAnn remembers:
Fred was a gentleman, a caring husband, a good provider, a good lover and a good friend. Differences, yes. But they were always ironed out with kisses and hugs, and the words "I'm sorry". He always said, "I love you, doll." He filled my life. He always left me notes to let me know where he was. The last thing he did Thursday as I left to visit family in Yakima, was to put me in the car, close the door and say, "Drive safely, doll."
Daughter Pauline remembers:
Every day was a celebration, and everyone invited.
Dad wanted communication in person, to hear live voices, see live people.
You could never predict what Dad would say in any situation, except that you knew it would be a surprise.
He could fix anything. He had a 1969 blue Lincoln that he took as a personal challenge to keep running from Point A to Point B. well beyond its normal life span. He was always on the side of the road, joyfully fixing that car. This antique is long gone. But as Rich said, "JoAnn is now the sole heir to four Geo Metros." Two currently run. The white one was the coffee car used to go to the Farmer's Table at George, and the Green Weenie to chauffeur his dog Blondie around the farm. The others were used for spare parts.
Daughter Nancy remembers:
Dad believed what happened was for the best, because it is what DID happen. He also would never admit to being lost: I know where I am, I'm right here. Father loved pretty things and he loved his "Licorice Stick" clarinet music. Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and all the two-step songs ever sung. He was the neatest dancer.
Those people Father met in Tanzania while he and Mother, first, and then he and Polly second, were visiting us remember his sense of humor and how he enjoyed discovering new things there. He would try anything. His example of joyful discovery is a good one to follow.
Son Richard remembers:
Dad was a passionate basketball fan. Every year we went to the State Tournament. We watched basketball until our eyes bled and kneecaps were sore form rubbing on the seat in front. Dad loved his family and he loved his combines. When he sold the farm, he kept his combines!. Only one ran. Always a farmer, whenever hay was down, he was waiting for the dew to come in. Even after retiring he always said, "Gotta get home. Gotta help Joe bale tonight."
He enjoyed hunting and enjoyed visiting the duck hunters that stayed at his Duck hunters Motel. They always drank good whiskey. (This has had an unexpected influence on international relationships: His African in-laws have learned to appreciate Wild Turkey.)
His trademark at Farmer's Table was flipping his lucky Father-of-the Year coin for the coffee daily, and more likely than not to win the toss.
Daughter Barbara remembers:
Dad had big, calloused, rough farmer hands. Uncle Floyd, Grandpa Clark, Uncle Vern and Dad all had big sausage hands. I can remember Dad reaching for little kids with his big hands, and his big hands reaching out when I handed him my cat. He touched everyone he met and he will be remembered.
Daughter-in-law Theresa remembers:
Thirty years ago, when Rich and I were first dating, he brought me to a Brim family Park Lake picnic. I had put potato salad on my plate and it rolled off onto the grass. Dad picked it up and returned it to my plate, and it rolled off again! I was so embarrassed, but Dad just laughed and laughed. (She still married Richard.) Around that same time, Teddy, a diabetic, was saying how popular the diabetic ice cream was. Fred was seen coming out of the kitchen with a mason jar about two-thirds full of sugar. He winked and said, "This is why the diabetic ice cream is so popular-the Secret Ingredient!". He was able to lighten things up.
Daughter Sharma and me, son-in-law Eric, remember:
Once we left the kids with Fred and JoAnn for the weekend. We could tell Fred was really anticipating the kids showing up. When we picked them up on Sunday, the entire living room had been transformed into a train station, with the train running under the coffee table. They were wearing engineer caps and the boys, including Papa Fred, were totally fixated on running that train.
Whenever he answered the phone, he would say, "Is this the person to whom I am speaking". After a good meal he would say, "I've had a sufficiency of aplenty and any more would be a superfluity of abundance and besides that it was most salubrious. Alternatively, he would say we had had a feast of reason and a flow of soul.
And no matter how full you are, don't worry: dessert goes into a separate compartment.
Grandson Fred remembers:
Papa did not tolerate taking advantage of other people's weakness. The only time I remember Papa getting angry was once when I was beating up my little brother Andy.
Grandson Franklin remembers: Grandpa was the best grandpa. You knew he cared.
Fred lived next door to a fellow Marine Raider, Bob Watkins.
Bob's wife Esther remembers:
We helped each other during Teddy's illness and Bob's illness. They exchanged farm help always. Fred grumbled about having to put in a lawn when Richard started dating Theresa. The yard was kept in sagebrush to keep the soil from blowing and as a file system for machine parts: the spare for the baler was under that sagebrush, and parts for the combine under the tumbleweed over there, etc. But once the lawn was put in, he went out and bought a riding lawnmower to keep it trimmed.
Bob's son Joel remembers:
It would be impossible to return the help I have received from Fred.
And nephew-in-law Steve Philips remembers:
Uncle Fred was always light-hearted and happy. He loved everyone he knew, judged no one and never seemed to carry any baggage. He accepted everyone just the way they were. He didn't take life too seriously and appeared to adapt to whatever came his way. His complaints were wrapped in humor and laughter. His unique style and approach to life served him well.
Son, brother, husband, father, grandfather, uncle, friend and neighbor: Frederick James Brim was all of these and more.
This is end of the eulogy, but the memories flow on.
Goodbye, Fred Brim. We'll meet again somewhere down the road. Travel well.
Notes from Fred to JoAnn — Read by Sharma Williamson, Fred's daughter
For those of you who know me, you know that I don't do well speaking in front of large crowds or any for that matter, but for Fred I'll do it. These are just some of the notes that Fred wrote to Mom each morning before he would leave for coffee.
-JoAnn I'm outta here I'll be into here after while love you Fred
-JoAnn yesterday I went to see George I think I will do the same today love you Fred
-JoAnn I have gone to George to seek my fortune love you Fred
-JoAnn believe it or not I have gone to George love you Fred
-JoAnn have gone to see if George is worth seeing love you Fred
-JoAnn I have disappeared into the fog love you Fred
-JoAnn I have gone that away for awhile I will come this away again when I finish my coffee love you Fred
-JoAnn BYE George I have gone to George love you Fred
-JoAnn I have gone to play in the snow at George love you Fred
-JoAnn if you can't find me or the movie tape we are at George love you Fred
-JoAnn I have disappeared into the fog if I can find my way back I'll be home in a couple of hours love Fred
-JoAnn I have gone to George in the dark - hope it don't stay that way love you Fred
-JoAnn today I am Mr. Good wrench see you at Sunland love you Fred
-JoAnn this might sound corny but corn is King and I am off to do my Corn Thing love you Fred
-JoAnn you have probably figured it out yourself that I gone to George love you Fred
-JoAnn I have gone to see if the smoke is smokey in George love you Fred
-JoAnn here it is tues. morning and nothing done yet. Am going to George to see how the other half of the world does it love you Fred
-JoAnn I am not home because I have gone to town love you Fred
-JoAnn this is a repeat of yesterday love Fred
-JoAnn I have gone again to the place called Martha's love you Fred
-JoAnn I have gone to give aid and assistance to the legal system of Grant County love you Fred
-JoAnn George is waiting so off I go see you soon love you Fred
-JoAnn I have gone to see if I have seen everything to see in George love you Fred
-JoAnn I have gone to George the coffee capitol of the world love you Fred
-JoAnn it isn't raining so I am going to George to see why love you Fred
-JoAnn I have gone to see what is on the other side of the fog love you Fred
Tribute to Fred's service with US Marines Raiders — given by John Lasher, Fred's son-in-law
Fred J. Brim graduated from high school in Mason City, WA in June of 1941. Like everyone of his generation his life was about to be changed forever. In December of 1941 the United States was engaged in a war with the Empire of Japan, when the navy base at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, was attacked.
In WWII, as it is today, to be a marine was very special. Only one person in 32 who entered the military was a marine, and until 1945 they were all volunteers.
Fred enlisted and took boot camp in April of 1942. In June of '42 he graduated from radio school in San Diego, CA. He was shipped out to Noumea, New Caladonia in a replacement draft Dec. 19, 1942. He was accepted into the ranks of the first raider battalion after muster with Lt. Col. Sam Griffith the first raider CO. He was assigned to the radio section of headquarters company as a communicator.
Fred trained with the raiders while they rebuilt and recovered from the grueling battles previously fought on Guadalcanal. In July of 1943 the orders came down to take the island of New Georgia in the northern Solomon Chain.
Fred's recollections to me, of the New Georgia operation, was a long unending fight with two enemies, the Japanese and the jungle. The Japanese were formidable foes, eventually overcome. The jungle was worse; an implacable foe, malignant, never yielding, never overcome. Thorn studded vines lashed at them, shredding their clothes, lacerating their skin and impeding their progress. They rarely saw the sun because of the dense canopy of vegetation and thick cloud cover. They were always wet from the high humidity and the incessant rains, which also turned the trails they walked into quagmires.
The marines were victorious on the first objectives at Triri and Enogai. The second mission was beset with difficulty and they failed to take Bairoku. They got to within 300 yards of their objective and were driven back with heavy losses. Fred said the return to Enogai was a trial. He said they could not have made the trip without the help of the native island guides whom he called "Angels with fuzzy hair".
After New Georgia Fred was part of the assault forces assembled to take the Marianas Islands. He found himself on an LST in floating reserve for 40 days as the first two Marianas Islands were taken. He recalled playing chess with his buddies on a magnet chess board sent from home. He said that was the only diversion that kept them sane.
On 21 July, 1944, he and the rest of the Fourth marines assaulted Guam. The battle was furious and bloody. The marines prevailed after a month of heavy fighting. He was rotated back to California to learn to call in naval gun fire. He missed the Iwo Jima and Okinawa operations because of this schooling.
In summer of 1945, he was returned to the Fourth marines in time to be one of the first U.S. units to occupy the mainland of Japan. He told me about walking across ground zero in Hiroshima soon after that city's destruction. He also recalled greeting marine POWs from the original Fourth marines who surrendered on Corrigidor in 1942. Fred's war had ended and he soon returned home.
In closing I would like to share a verse from a song the raiders acquired in New Zealand. Please refer to the verse printed on your program. I'd like to sing it for you the first time solo and then I'd like to have you join me for a repeat of the same verse. And lets give Fred a Raider send off.
Bless 'em all! Bless 'em all!
The long, and the short, and the tall,
Bless all the sergeants and officers too;
Bless all the corporals and above all bless you!
For we're saying goodbye to them all,
The Raiders who've answered the call.
They'll all get promotions for gung ho devotion
So Cheer up my lads, bless 'em all!
Note:
~~#0000FF:The song "Bless 'em All" has many verses, some of which are at Bless 'em All - U.S. Marines WWII Version or at USMC Raiders Bless 'em All verses//www.rienzihills.com/SING/B/blessemall.htm|Bless 'Em All midi file]
For more information on the signification of this tune to the US Marine Corps Raiders, check out
Dan Marsh's Marine Raider Page
and
Bless 'Em All preface
Presentation of flag to JoAnn
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