Richard David Brannen

Richard David Brannen

Etna, NH - Richard David Brannen, living in Etna, NH, passed away on August 10th, 2025, after fighting an infection. He was comfortable and with family at his side.

Richard was born on April 29, 1936, in Brookline, MA. He grew up primarily in Hanover NH and spent time in Texas. He attended the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point and served his country in the years afterwards. On a ski trip in San Francisco, he met Margaret, who became the love of his life, and they married before he attended the University of California to study optometry.

Both Richard and his new wife loved the outdoors and spent their summer vacations camping in the California State Parks around Lake Tahoe. Eventually, Margaret and Richard returned to the East Coast, where Richard grew up and wanted to pursue his career in optometry.

While raising three sons, he built two optometry practices, one in Rutland, Vermont, and another in Hanover, NH, where he grew up as a child and teenager. Richard always loved Hanover and felt a strong connection to the community. Over time, past generations of his family lived there, and he was able to explain the history of many of the buildings in town and developments at Dartmouth College. Richard participated with the Hanover Rotary, sang at Saint Denis Church, and had season tickets at Dartmouth College hockey and football games.

Richard loved building model ships, assembled to scale, with extensive detail and small parts. It would usually take years to complete one, and several great examples exist today. He also enjoyed the cars and sailboats he owned over the years, including a Porsche 911 Targa, Mercedes sedans and roadsters, and various sailboats from single sailor crafts to larger multiday excursion vessels that he cruised with close friends on Lake Champlain.

Richard expressed a preference for discipline and "no excuses," but also showed kindness toward his family and the people he interacted with professionally and socially. He made sure to attend his sons' games and practices so they could pursue any opportunity they were interested in. Even though he tended to be reserved, he valued his wife's outgoing personality and positively impacted those around them. These are the things that will be remembered the most.

Richard is survived by his sons Hugh (with Sheila), Tyler, and Courtland (with Panitta), his grandchildren William, Ashley, and Emily, and great-grandchildren Colton, Elizabeth, and Riley Anne.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. Denis Catholic Church in Hanover, NH on Saturday September 6, 2025, at 11:00 A.M.

To view an online memorial and or send a message of condolence to the family, please visit, www.rand-wilson.com

If preferred, donations in memory of Richard Brannen can be made to Breakthrough Type 1 Diabetes (formerly Breakthrough Type 1 Diabetes (Formerly JDRF)) at www.breakthrought1d.org