Brick died unexpectedly of natural causes at his home in Electric City on Saturday, May 2, 2009. He was born in Wilbur on June 12, 1919, to William and Blanche Brenchley into a family with two brothers, Theodore and Andrew, a sister, Iva and a half-sister Goldie. Early on he was nicknamed Brick because of his dark red hair.
Brick graduated from Almira High School, where he excelled in football and boxing. He also developed an early love for water sports, becoming an outstanding swimmer and diver.
In 1941, he married Doris Jean "DJ" Mathews, the love of his life, and began a 58-year marriage during which he fathered four children, Gloria Jean, Larry Jesse, Stephen Walter, and Jerry Brick.
He worked on the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam before joining the army in World War II where he served as a drill sergeant went stateside and was a medic in combat in the Pacific.
He used the GI Bill after the war to get further education, graduating from the Farragut College of Technology where he studied air conditioning and refrigeration.
He began several small businesses selling televisions, sporting goods, boats, outboard motors, and providing air conditioning and refrigeration services to the greater Grand Coulee area. Brick had strong work ethics, working long hours to support his family, but Brick and DJ also enjoyed many hours of leisure at their vacation home on the San Poil River.
Brick's interest in electronics led him to build the family's first television in the 1950s. Shortly thereafter, he constructed a reflector on the coulee wall to deflect the signal into the Grand Coulee area. While still maintaining his business to a lesser degree, he joined the Pipe Fitters Union where he was a foreman and was a supervisor for dam construction primarily on the Columbia River at Wells Dam and the Third Power House at the Grand Coulee Dam.
After retiring from construction work, he continued to run the Sport Shop in Electric City where he put his talent to work building rifles. Gun safety was always important to Brick. He took pride in teaching high school students gun safety for which they awarded him an honorary diploma and plaque. His later years were spent gardening, enjoying pets on the ranch, traveling with DJ, actively investing in the stock market, collecting aluminum cans each year earning thousands of dollars to support the Grand Coulee Senior Center, feeding deer, birds, feral cats and other strays, making dozens of old cars run and enjoying coffee each morning, joking and storytelling with friends at Flo's.
He is survived by a daughter, Gloria Jean Karton of Woodinville, and two sons, Larry Jesse Brenchley of Elmer City and his wife Charla, and Stephen Water Brenchley of Newman Lake, and his wife Pat. Grandchildren include: Kim Yvette Jannsen, Alexandra Lexie Masters, Amanda Smith, Anne Marie Carr, and Laura Jean Montoya, along with great-grandchildren, Joseph Kim and Andrew Haywood. Also, considered in his "larger" family fold are Judy Kitchen, Chay Heilman and children, Josh Schneider, Alicia Henke Miller, Steven Henke, and Kim and Price McLaughlin.
Brick is predeceased by his parents and siblings, his wife, Doris Jean (1999) and son, Jerry Brick Brenchley (1946-1996) .
A memorial service was held on Friday, May 8, 2009 at Strate's Funeral Home in Grand Coulee. His ashes will be interred with DJ's at the Spring Canyon Cemetery outside of Grand Coulee. He will be honored on Memorial Day at the Aisle of Flags by the Veterans of Foreign Wars of which he was a member. Memorial donations can be made to Grand Coulee Senior Center or by carrying on Brick's work in volunteering in some way for the Senior Center.
Brick graduated from Almira High School, where he excelled in football and boxing. He also developed an early love for water sports, becoming an outstanding swimmer and diver.
In 1941, he married Doris Jean "DJ" Mathews, the love of his life, and began a 58-year marriage during which he fathered four children, Gloria Jean, Larry Jesse, Stephen Walter, and Jerry Brick.
He worked on the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam before joining the army in World War II where he served as a drill sergeant went stateside and was a medic in combat in the Pacific.
He used the GI Bill after the war to get further education, graduating from the Farragut College of Technology where he studied air conditioning and refrigeration.
He began several small businesses selling televisions, sporting goods, boats, outboard motors, and providing air conditioning and refrigeration services to the greater Grand Coulee area. Brick had strong work ethics, working long hours to support his family, but Brick and DJ also enjoyed many hours of leisure at their vacation home on the San Poil River.
Brick's interest in electronics led him to build the family's first television in the 1950s. Shortly thereafter, he constructed a reflector on the coulee wall to deflect the signal into the Grand Coulee area. While still maintaining his business to a lesser degree, he joined the Pipe Fitters Union where he was a foreman and was a supervisor for dam construction primarily on the Columbia River at Wells Dam and the Third Power House at the Grand Coulee Dam.
After retiring from construction work, he continued to run the Sport Shop in Electric City where he put his talent to work building rifles. Gun safety was always important to Brick. He took pride in teaching high school students gun safety for which they awarded him an honorary diploma and plaque. His later years were spent gardening, enjoying pets on the ranch, traveling with DJ, actively investing in the stock market, collecting aluminum cans each year earning thousands of dollars to support the Grand Coulee Senior Center, feeding deer, birds, feral cats and other strays, making dozens of old cars run and enjoying coffee each morning, joking and storytelling with friends at Flo's.
He is survived by a daughter, Gloria Jean Karton of Woodinville, and two sons, Larry Jesse Brenchley of Elmer City and his wife Charla, and Stephen Water Brenchley of Newman Lake, and his wife Pat. Grandchildren include: Kim Yvette Jannsen, Alexandra Lexie Masters, Amanda Smith, Anne Marie Carr, and Laura Jean Montoya, along with great-grandchildren, Joseph Kim and Andrew Haywood. Also, considered in his "larger" family fold are Judy Kitchen, Chay Heilman and children, Josh Schneider, Alicia Henke Miller, Steven Henke, and Kim and Price McLaughlin.
Brick is predeceased by his parents and siblings, his wife, Doris Jean (1999) and son, Jerry Brick Brenchley (1946-1996) .
A memorial service was held on Friday, May 8, 2009 at Strate's Funeral Home in Grand Coulee. His ashes will be interred with DJ's at the Spring Canyon Cemetery outside of Grand Coulee. He will be honored on Memorial Day at the Aisle of Flags by the Veterans of Foreign Wars of which he was a member. Memorial donations can be made to Grand Coulee Senior Center or by carrying on Brick's work in volunteering in some way for the Senior Center.
Brick died unexpectedly of natural causes at his home in Electric City on Saturday, May 2, 2009. He was born in Wilbur on June 12, 1919, to William and Blanche Brenchley into a family with two brothers, Theodore and Andrew, a sister, Iva and a half-sister Goldie. Early on he was nicknamed Brick because of his dark red hair.
Brick graduated from Almira High School, where he excelled in football and boxing. He also developed an early love for water sports, becoming an outstanding swimmer and diver.
In 1941, he married Doris Jean "DJ" Mathews, the love of his life, and began a 58-year marriage during which he fathered four children, Gloria Jean, Larry Jesse, Stephen Walter, and Jerry Brick.
He worked on the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam before joining the army in World War II where he served as a drill sergeant went stateside and was a medic in combat in the Pacific.
He used the GI Bill after the war to get further education, graduating from the Farragut College of Technology where he studied air conditioning and refrigeration.
He began several small businesses selling televisions, sporting goods, boats, outboard motors, and providing air conditioning and refrigeration services to the greater Grand Coulee area. Brick had strong work ethics, working long hours to support his family, but Brick and DJ also enjoyed many hours of leisure at their vacation home on the San Poil River.
Brick's interest in electronics led him to build the family's first television in the 1950s. Shortly thereafter, he constructed a reflector on the coulee wall to deflect the signal into the Grand Coulee area. While still maintaining his business to a lesser degree, he joined the Pipe Fitters Union where he was a foreman and was a supervisor for dam construction primarily on the Columbia River at Wells Dam and the Third Power House at the Grand Coulee Dam.
After retiring from construction work, he continued to run the Sport Shop in Electric City where he put his talent to work building rifles. Gun safety was always important to Brick. He took pride in teaching high school students gun safety for which they awarded him an honorary diploma and plaque. His later years were spent gardening, enjoying pets on the ranch, traveling with DJ, actively investing in the stock market, collecting aluminum cans each year earning thousands of dollars to support the Grand Coulee Senior Center, feeding deer, birds, feral cats and other strays, making dozens of old cars run and enjoying coffee each morning, joking and storytelling with friends at Flo's.
He is survived by a daughter, Gloria Jean Karton of Woodinville, and two sons, Larry Jesse Brenchley of Elmer City and his wife Charla, and Stephen Water Brenchley of Newman Lake, and his wife Pat. Grandchildren include: Kim Yvette Jannsen, Alexandra Lexie Masters, Amanda Smith, Anne Marie Carr, and Laura Jean Montoya, along with great-grandchildren, Joseph Kim and Andrew Haywood. Also, considered in his "larger" family fold are Judy Kitchen, Chay Heilman and children, Josh Schneider, Alicia Henke Miller, Steven Henke, and Kim and Price McLaughlin.
Brick is predeceased by his parents and siblings, his wife, Doris Jean (1999) and son, Jerry Brick Brenchley (1946-1996) .
A memorial service was held on Friday, May 8, 2009 at Strate's Funeral Home in Grand Coulee. His ashes will be interred with DJ's at the Spring Canyon Cemetery outside of Grand Coulee. He will be honored on Memorial Day at the Aisle of Flags by the Veterans of Foreign Wars of which he was a member. Memorial donations can be made to Grand Coulee Senior Center or by carrying on Brick's work in volunteering in some way for the Senior Center.
Brick graduated from Almira High School, where he excelled in football and boxing. He also developed an early love for water sports, becoming an outstanding swimmer and diver.
In 1941, he married Doris Jean "DJ" Mathews, the love of his life, and began a 58-year marriage during which he fathered four children, Gloria Jean, Larry Jesse, Stephen Walter, and Jerry Brick.
He worked on the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam before joining the army in World War II where he served as a drill sergeant went stateside and was a medic in combat in the Pacific.
He used the GI Bill after the war to get further education, graduating from the Farragut College of Technology where he studied air conditioning and refrigeration.
He began several small businesses selling televisions, sporting goods, boats, outboard motors, and providing air conditioning and refrigeration services to the greater Grand Coulee area. Brick had strong work ethics, working long hours to support his family, but Brick and DJ also enjoyed many hours of leisure at their vacation home on the San Poil River.
Brick's interest in electronics led him to build the family's first television in the 1950s. Shortly thereafter, he constructed a reflector on the coulee wall to deflect the signal into the Grand Coulee area. While still maintaining his business to a lesser degree, he joined the Pipe Fitters Union where he was a foreman and was a supervisor for dam construction primarily on the Columbia River at Wells Dam and the Third Power House at the Grand Coulee Dam.
After retiring from construction work, he continued to run the Sport Shop in Electric City where he put his talent to work building rifles. Gun safety was always important to Brick. He took pride in teaching high school students gun safety for which they awarded him an honorary diploma and plaque. His later years were spent gardening, enjoying pets on the ranch, traveling with DJ, actively investing in the stock market, collecting aluminum cans each year earning thousands of dollars to support the Grand Coulee Senior Center, feeding deer, birds, feral cats and other strays, making dozens of old cars run and enjoying coffee each morning, joking and storytelling with friends at Flo's.
He is survived by a daughter, Gloria Jean Karton of Woodinville, and two sons, Larry Jesse Brenchley of Elmer City and his wife Charla, and Stephen Water Brenchley of Newman Lake, and his wife Pat. Grandchildren include: Kim Yvette Jannsen, Alexandra Lexie Masters, Amanda Smith, Anne Marie Carr, and Laura Jean Montoya, along with great-grandchildren, Joseph Kim and Andrew Haywood. Also, considered in his "larger" family fold are Judy Kitchen, Chay Heilman and children, Josh Schneider, Alicia Henke Miller, Steven Henke, and Kim and Price McLaughlin.
Brick is predeceased by his parents and siblings, his wife, Doris Jean (1999) and son, Jerry Brick Brenchley (1946-1996) .
A memorial service was held on Friday, May 8, 2009 at Strate's Funeral Home in Grand Coulee. His ashes will be interred with DJ's at the Spring Canyon Cemetery outside of Grand Coulee. He will be honored on Memorial Day at the Aisle of Flags by the Veterans of Foreign Wars of which he was a member. Memorial donations can be made to Grand Coulee Senior Center or by carrying on Brick's work in volunteering in some way for the Senior Center.
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