In the early hours of April 4, 2024, we lost an amazing American hero here on earth, but heaven likely gained its best pilot yet. Renowned pilot, mechanic and fixer of all things, Bob Brashear, went peacefully into the presence of his Father in his sleep. All that knew him will miss hearing first hand accounts of things like life without electricity, indoor plumbing and the Great Depression.
So, what about Bob? To be perfectly honest, you’d need a novel or mini-series to tell his story right. So, these will just be highlights. Well, he was born in Rising Star, TX July 10, 1926 to Edwin and Carl Oline Brashear. He was the 4th son and 7th child of the 8 born to his parents. He grew up on a farm, with his brother, Edwin, milked cows twice a day in addition to other chores. He learned how to build and fix things at an early age from his dad, who trusted him a great deal when he tried things like attaching an engine to a wagon so he would have the fastest wagon in town.
But going fast on the ground wasn’t what captured Bob’s imagination. As a young boy he wandered down to the local airport and got himself invited to go on a flight in an airplane. When the pilot let him control the plane, the course for his life pretty much was set. Bob’s love affair with aircraft began that day in a small west Texas town and that flame burned well into his 90s, when he quit flying only because his body wouldn’t let him get inside a plane anymore.
On one of his earliest unauthorized trips to the airport, his mom ratted him out to his dad and Papa Bear went to retrieve his delinquent son with a switch in his hand. Young Bob got his legs swatted all the way back home. The next time he wanted to go to the airport, he told his dad they were launching hot air balloons that day. Not believing his son, Edwin followed Bob to the airport. When he saw a hot air balloon sail into the sky for the first time, he never again swatted Bob for being amazed with flight.
As a 13 year old, Bob’s parents split up, and his dad left. When his mom moved to Pennsylvania, it left him alone on the farm as a young lad. Through sheer determination and grit, he survived, finished school and joined the military.
He built and flew airplanes consistently for over 80 years. Builders and pilots from all over brought their issues to Bob Brashear. Many picked his brain until he was well into his 90s. For many of the years he lived out on Ross Road north of Waco, there was a fuselage or car in his shop at all times.
Bob quite literally helped people every day of his life. If he wasn’t fixing something someone else broke (never his grandsons), he was building something for himself or someone else to enjoy. It’s not an exaggeration to say that he was one of the finest mechanics worldwide. There was just something about his brain that made it easy for him to understand how things worked.
He entered the military in 1944 to serve in World War II. Bob flew medical missions in the war that included landing his plane on the side of a mountain. To say he was a bit of a skilled pilot is an understatement.
On May 29, 1943, Bob married Catherine Squires, a courtship that was cemented when he paid off her family’s bill at the local store and led to a long, happy 53 year marriage. The couple flew all over the country in Bob’s aircraft. Sometimes just to grab breakfast in a place it would take hours to drive or sometimes across America to a fly-in attended by pilots worldwide.
Bob and Catherine had two children, Bob Jr. and Carline, born in 1946 and 1948, respectively. The Brashear family was taken to church on a regular basis. Bob was a part of quartets that sang at churches around Central Texas. Bob lived to love them and provide for them until their deaths in 2017 and 2018.
Hard work was a part of every day of Bob’s life. He worked for Central Freight Lines for decades before retiring to his own personal shop in the early 1980s. Bob managed the shop at Central, supervising dozens of mechanics over the years that kept trucks on the road.
After Catherine lost her battle with dementia and passed away, Bob was left putting his life back together. Several years later he was remarried to Sybil Williams. Tragically, dementia attacked her too and Bob sweetly cared for her until her death. Late in life, he reconnected with an old friend, Wanda Hamilton Yowell, and they married in 2019.
So many mourn the loss of Bob Brashear: Of course his sweet wife, Wanda and her family, his son-in-law Wade Maybin, his daughter-in-law Edie Brashear and his 5 grandsons, Doug and Rick Brashear and Cale, Russell and Bradley Maybin and their families. From those 5 grandsons, Bob is survived by 23 great grandkids, and 18 great great grandkids. He led a remarkable life and will be missed terribly by his family and friends.
