Lt. Col. Irvin Brobeck, Jr.

Lt. Col. (Ret.) Irvin Brobeck, Jr., of Bedford, Virginia, passed away May 30 after a brief illness. Lt. Col. Brobeck was born in 1930 in San Antonio, Tex., but was raised in Whitehall, Ohio. He graduated from Bexley High School in 1948 and from The Ohio State University in 1953. Following graduation he entered into military service as an Army 2nd Lieutenant. He served in Korea at the close of the Korean War and was subsequently assigned to the 8th Infantry Division in Baumholder, Germany. It was there that he met his bride to be, Jean Ann Huntington, a social studies teacher with the Army Dependent High School.

Upon returning to the states, Lt. Col. Brobeck served as assistant professor of military science at DePaul University in Chicago for four years. After, he was assigned as a port operations supervisor to the Vietnamese Army. While serving in Vietnam, he was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. Subsequent assignments took him to Fort Eustis, Virginia; Bangkok, Thailand, where he was involved in clandestine operations in support of the Vietnamese war; Fort Belvoir, Virginia; Korea, and finally, Bethesda, Maryland, and the Army Concepts Analysis Agency. In addition to the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, during his military career he received the Joint Services Commendation Medal, the Army Meritorious Service Medal, and the Army Commendation Medal, among others.

After military service, he settled into a life devoted to the arts, as a watercolorist, needlework designer, and arts administrator. He spent several years as executive director of the Fairfax (Virginia) County Council of the Arts before he and his wife initially retired to Wiscasset, Maine. In 1996, he and Jean moved to Bedford, Virginia.

His paintings and needlework have been exhibited in locales from Florida to Maine, notably at the Fairfax County Courthouse and Executive Offices, George Mason University, the National Geological Survey Headquarters, the National Deposit Insurance Co., and Bowdoin College. His art and designs were also featured or discussed in Down East Magazine, Just Cross Stitch Magazine, WGME television of Portland, Me., and Florida Island Hopping: The West Coast, by Chelle Koster.

In Bedford, he has been a generous supporter or volunteer with several organizations, including the Bower Center for the Arts, which he served as treasurer; the Smith Mountain Chapter of the Military Officers Association of America, of which he is a past president; the National D-Day Memorial; the Bedford Elks Chapter #2844; and Bedford Domestic Violence Services.

He is survived by a son, Kurt I. Brobeck, of Nashville, Tenn.; daughter, Carol Brobeck, of Washington, D.C.; daughter and son-in-law, Gretchen and Dennis Knudson, of Spotsylvania, Virginia; five grandchildren, Emma and Sam Brobeck, of Nashville, Tenn.; Cathy and Daniel Knudson, of Spotsylvania, Virginia; and Joel Woodruff and wife, Danielle, of Purcellville, Virginia; and three great-grandchildren, Alyssa, Joshua and Gavin Woodruff, of Purcellville, Virginia.

A memorial service is planned for 2:00 P.M., Saturday, June 18, at Tharp Funeral Home in Bedford. In lieu of flowers, donations are suggested to any of the above-named Bedford organizations or to a charity of one\"™s choice.