John Nolan Brewer, Jr.

With deep sorrow we mourn the passing of John Nolan Brewer, Jr. (age 87). He passed away on Friday, September 7, 2012 at Frederick Memorial Hospital. John was the husband of Betty C. Brewer of Frederick. He was born on September 24, 1924 in Fords Ferry, KY to John Nolan and Joanna Brewer. He spent his early childhood in KY. John later moved to Memphis, TN, graduating from Central High School. As a young man he spent many summers visiting family at Los Luceros, the home of Mary Cabot Wheelwright, near the hamlet of Alcalde, NM. During World War II John served in Austria, England, France, and Germany, earning a Bronze Star Medal as a member of the United States Army in the Anti-tank Company, 264th Regiment, 66th Division. On Christmas Eve 1944, just five months before the end of the war in Europe, he was in a convoy crossing the English Channel, when a German torpedo struck and sank the Belgian transport ship S.S. Leopoldville five miles off the coast of Cherbourg, France, killing 762 soldiers. John attended Memphis State University and graduated Cum Laude from Christian Brothers University with a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering. During college he met and married his wife Betty. Following graduation he stayed in Memphis teaching at Christian Brothers University and later working as an engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He then moved to Frederick, MD working at Fort Detrick and the National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology) where he retired as Chief Engineer. John attended Calvary United Methodist Church and was a member of the Mt. Pleasant Ruritan Club, Frederick Elks Lodge, American Legion-Francis Scott Key Post 11, and the Catoctin Club. He was an avid dancer, belonging to the Woodsboro and Thurmont dance clubs with his wife. John owned and had an avid interest in vintage and antique automobiles, notably the Ford A and T models. He played basketball in the Senior Olympics and once played a practice game with the Harlem Globetrotters. John will be greatly missed by his son John Nolan Brewer, III and Judy Murphy of Frederick, and daughter Lois Jean Barnes and husband Roy of Brentwood, TN, and granddaughter Caren Elizabeth Barnes. Friends will be received at Keeney & Basford Funeral Home, 106 E. Church St., Frederick on Wednesday, September 12, 2012 from 10-11 AM. The memorial service follows at 11 AM with Rev. Harry C. Cole officiating. Interment will follow at Mt. Olivet Cemetery. Friends and family are invited to gather for a luncheon afterward at the Ruritan Club on Crum Rd in Mt. Pleasant. Donations may be made in John's memory to the scholarship fund of the Mt. Pleasant Ruritan Club. Please view and sign the family guest book by going to www.keeneybasford.com.