After 95 years and 362 days, Garland Ray Brinson gained his wings and went to be with the Lord on May 5th, or as this date shall now be called, “Cinco de Papa”. He had quite the run. Garland was surrounded by his loving wife, four children, and one of many grandchildren when he bid adieu to this physical world and zipped up to the pearly gates, likely in an old classic Chevy.
Garland was born in Santa Anna, TX to William Thomas Brinson and Pearl Beal Brinson May 8, 1928, resided in Coleman, TX, and was the younger brother to Colleen Brinson and Bill Brinson.
Garland’s experiences during his life included serving as civilian Crew Chief at the Patuxent Naval base, working on aircraft carriers and jet engines, one of which was the F-8 Crusader, the aircraft John Glenn flew in 1957’s Project Bullet, breaking the transcontinental speed record. After Glenn’s landing, Garland was tasked with removing the flight data recorder from the avionics bay and handing it to the adjudicator from the Guiness Book of World Records to authenticate the flight data. Unfortunately, Glenn didn’t take Garland to space with him a few years later, but we think he would have really enjoyed that. Garland went on to work for General Motors, retiring after 30 years. During his time there, his ingenuity was recognized many times through suggestion awards, and he was “The Guy” GM sometimes sent to plants in Detroit and Mexico to fix problems no one else could.
Garland was a master garage tinkerer and inventor, obtaining multiple U.S. patents over the years. He didn’t obtain patents for everything, though, one of those being the modern-day sunshade for your car. So, as you can imagine, some other family owns a vacation home in Bora Bora, but sadly, it ain’t us.
Although no degree, Garland had the mind and skills of a brilliant engineer. He excelled in woodworking and fabricating molds for his inventions and loved making hand-crafted items for his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Despite these skills, Garland was accident prone and could rival any cat with nine lives. As a child he lost half a finger to a shotgun mishap, once ran out of oxygen during a dive and had to drop his gear and swim to the surface and, tried his best to lose more fingers from gnarly table saw accidents. But no matter the size of the gash, his famous last words were always, “It didn’t hurt!” The missing trigger finger thwarted Garland’s dream of becoming a military pilot, but it did render great comedy for the family. Every grandchild had their own missing-finger-discovery-moment, often at inopportune times, like in the front row at a family funeral, which resulted in inappropriate, contagious laughter. Our Papa relished in the hysterics of it all and flashing his broken Hook ‘Em Horns sign was a favorite way to highlight his double-digit deficiency.
Garland and his wife loved traveling the country over the years with their friends, J.W. and Glenna, both now departed. Garland and J.W. were best friends for over 75 years until J.W.’s passing in 2023. Those two were comedy gold together, and if you weren’t cry-laughing at their friendly-fire insults at each other or listening to their argument of who wins first place at the “Older than Dirt” contest, you missed out. They were truly brothers from another mother. Garland was devastated to lose J.W., but despite our family’s grief, we are thrilled to envision the heavenly reunion those two unpaid comedians must have had. Garland probably stopped to make repairs to the pearly gates and J.W. was probably there to tell him he was doing it wrong. There’s no telling what they’re up to now, but it’s no good, rest assured!
Garland was a staple at Oak Grove Baptist church for decades and recognized for over 20 years of service leading the ushers. We thank the church members for their support and friendship, as well as the rather real-looking prosthetic finger he was gag-gifted at his surprise 90th birthday celebration.
Garland was so very loved, and both he and his story telling are greatly missed. He was godly, quick-witted and hilarious, a connoisseur of chicken fried steak and Blue Bell vanilla bean ice cream, master bite-stealer of desserts on other peoples’ plates because “there was a bug on it”, passionate hater of chicken and turkey, accomplished craftsman and inventor, survivor of many mishaps and near death experiences, a role model, proud owner of 9 ½ fingers, a kindhearted, loving human being, and the absolute best husband, Daddy, Papa, and Great-Papa anyone could ever dream of having. What an absolute legend.
Preceded in death are Garland’s parents, siblings, son-in-law, Mac, best friend J.W., and let’s be honest – a lot of others because after all, he graced us with nearly 10 decades.
Garland is survived by an onslaught of loyal groupies: His loving wife JoAnn of 46 years, who tirelessly cared for him in his final years as his strength and health began to wane, daughter Jeannie Potts and husband David, son David Brinson, daughter Robin McElreath, daughter Teresa Hayes and husband Kevin, stepson Brian Lampman and wife Missy, stepdaughter Laurie Clary and husband LaWayne, and so many grandchildren (13) and great-grandchildren (20) we can’t possibly list them all because remember – Garland didn’t file a patent on the car sunshade, so we can’t afford the character limit the newspaper is charging us for this.
Our Papa, who art in heaven, comedy be thy name. They say no man is perfect, but God came pretty darn close with this one.
Services to be held May 28, 2024, at Laurel Land Funeral Home at 7100 Crowley Rd, Ft. Worth, TX. Viewing at 11 am and service at 12 pm. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Oak Grove Baptist Church Building Fund (Burleson, TX) or the Alzheimer’s Association at alz.org.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.11.0