Edwin Brun

Edwin L. Brun

Shreveport, LA - Edwin Louis Brun was born January 29, 1925, in Shreveport, Louisiana, and passed away on February 2nd, after a brief illness. Notably, Mr. Brun is a pancreatic cancer survivor, having major surgery at age 83 and being free of that disease at his death, at age 88. He was preceded in death by his parents, Louis Lawrence and Gussie Johnson Brun; his sister, Mildred Sims; and his wife of sixty-three years, Faye Hendrick Brun.

Mr. Brun was possessed of a vibrant personality, loving music, travel, and food from a young age. He graduated from Fair Park High School in 1944, where he participated in band and choir, joining the U.S. Army shortly after. He arrived in the Solomon Islands in the summer of 1944, where he was assigned to 52nd field hospital. He traveled through Guadalcanal and eventually arrived on Bougainville, where preparations were being made for the invasion of the Philippines. Attached to a mobile field hospital, he cared for the sick and wounded amid fierce combat in the area. His actions during the liberation saved and changed lives forever. After the war, he returned through San Francisco harbor to out-process in Washington, D.C., thereby traveling half the world and the entire United States by age twenty-one.

He attended Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Biology in 1949. Shortly after graduation, he married his college sweetheart, Faye Hendrick, and they made their home for a brief time in Baton Rouge before finally settling in Shreveport in 1954. He received a Master of Science in Education from Northwestern State University in 1971 and participated for many years thereafter in other graduate studies. He continually studied military history with a focus on World War I, and more recently conducted study in the writings attributed to the Apostle Paul.

Mr. Brun was, for many years, an avid bird watcher. He also had a strong interest in astronomy. He was a member of the Shreveport Astronomical Society and assisted in grinding the telescope optics for what later became the Ralph A. Worley Observatory. He spent many years in the pharmaceutical industry and later joined Caddo Parish Schools as a science teacher - a career he loved and cherished. He retired as a counselor in 1986.

Mr. Brun was an avid world traveler, visiting all but one continent. He shared his love of travel with others by hosting presentations at, Centenary College, LSU Shreveport, Rotary Club, and various other community organizations and also took each of his grandchildren to Europe on separate occasions.

Mr. Brun was a long-time member of the International Freelance Photographers Association, and the Caddo Retired Teachers Association. He was a pillar of River Cities Jubilee, the Shreveport-Bossier affiliate of the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America, which honored him as a Man of Note and Barbershopper of the Year. The family would like to thank his dear Barbershop friends for their support and brightening his days during his last illness.

As an active member of the Fair Park High School Alumni Association, he continued to meet with his friends from high school on a monthly basis until recently when his health prevented him from getting out as much as he would have liked. To his family, Mr. Brun was simply "Papa," who will be remembered for his sense of humor, hugs, and uncanny ability to fix any bad day with a great meal.

Mr. Brun is survived by his children, Judge Roy Louis Brun and Dr. Sylvia Brun Gage; his grandchildren, Deidre Gage Rollins and husband Lucien, Andrew Louis Brun, and Blaine MacGregor Brun; his great-grandchildren, Madelynn Claire Russell, James Douglas Rollins, and Jackson Stuart Louis Rollins; and a host of beloved friends whose lives he brightened.

Mr. Brun supported cancer research through Loma Linda University School of Medicine, Sloan-Kettering and M.D. Anderson Cancer Centers. As Mr. Brun was an advocate of the affiliation of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital with LSU Health Sciences Center, the family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made in his name to St. Jude's Children's Hospital or the charity of their choice.

The family invites friends to a reception honoring Mr. Brun on Saturday, February 9, from ten to noon, at Boone Funeral Home on Airline Drive in Bossier City. Mr. Brun will be interred in Maine with his beloved wife, Faye.