On this Father's Day, I want to take a few minutes and remember my father, John William Braden, called by his friends Bill.
Bill Braden: Good husband, father, and provider. He treated my mother always exceedingly well, and he could be counted upon to take her side in any family discussion.
He was a good provider. He returned to the Army for the Korean War and accumulated something like 26 years of service 
before retiring. Army pay was, at best, adequate. Yet I don’t recall ever wanting for anything; I had food and clothing and scouting and sports activities. I never had really any money at all until I began bagging groceries at the Fort Benjamin Harrison Commissary at the age of about 15, but – as I said – I didn't have any extra needs.
I don't have any childhood memories that really stick out but I will always remember him liking to play catch with me, sometimes with a football and sometimes with a baseball. We always had a little game that we played: If it was a good throw and you dropped it and that was "1" against you and the first one to drop five was the loser, and Dad didn’t drop many catches. Robert and I played that game when he was younger. And we still use Dad's phrase, "If it hits your hands you should catch it."
I remember when there was a huge community activity that included a kite flying contest. Dad helped me build this huge kite and also the wooden box with roller and handle to let out and recover the string. Oh yes, that kite won the day.
Children can be disobedient, and make mistakes and do dumb things, and I was no exception; and I was disciplined by my parents, but I do not recall ever being beaten or even spanked by my Dad. Well, maybe a single SWAT for egregious offenses. Dad did well communicating without ever having to curse, and that certainly included never using the Lord's name in vain.
I remember in high school I went out for the tennis team. When my interest in tennis perked up Dad would go out and he and I would play singles. Guess what? He beat me most of the time!
Dad taught me how to drive. He was a calm and good teacher. He helped my buy my first car, a 1953 Chevy straight six,
During times when it was just the two of us in the car and he was driving, he would sing. One of his songs was the chorus of "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles." That song still runs through my mind every now and then.
I will always remember that Dad was an avid golfer. And I remember with gratitude that when I started to play the game he kindly and gently made sure I knew the rules of golf with regard to course courtesies and avoiding slow play. More fathers need to teach their children this.
I remember our times at Fairwinds on the Severn. Sometime during each visit, we would inevitably go out in the backyard and have chipping contests with our golf balls. Good times.
And in the basement of their home at 3 Windward Drive, Dad had a ping-pong table, and we also had many enjoyable 
moments playing against each other.
Still at Fairwinds: My Dad somehow volunteered to rebuild the pump house for the neighborhood pool. It was a wooden structure and together we spent a weekend measuring, cutting, nailing, and painting . . . along with more than one trip to the hardware store. It was a wonderful bonding experience that I'll never forget. Later on we were driving down the road and saw wooden sheds for sale. Heck, we could have bought and installed a shed for the pump house in half the time and two-thirds the cost. But I wouldn't trade our time together for anything.
And, yes, there were many great times on the Severn River: waterskiing, crabbing, and sailing. Precious memories.
The Braden family GO TO vacation spot was Ocean City. And rightly so. The ride down on US-50 to Maryland's Eastern Shore was always part of the fun: driving past the many fruit and vegetable stands along the way (where we normally stopped for corn-on-the cob), smelling the water of roadside inlets and bays, and admiring the beautiful countryside. A nice beach, good places to stay, and opportunities to eat steamed crabs, often by bringing the steamed crabs back to our rented rooms and eating them with Old Bay laid out on newspaper, and often by eating at Phillips Crab House, an iconioc restaurant in Ocean City (that closed its doors in 2021 after 66 years of service). What could be better? On the beach Dad might occasionally go in the water, but he mostly enjoyed sitting in a beach chair and watching his family and other people enjoy the sand and ocean waters.
It was my Dad who pointed me towards Purdue University. He felt I had an aptitude for math and science and that I would be a good engineer. Interestingly, I see many high school kids today who – rightly so – begin seeking colleges years in advance. I never did that. Dad signed me up to be a Boilermaker and that was it.
Dad was also instrumental in getting me into the Army. Yes, I had been in ROTC, but it took a trip by him up to Purdue to speak with the Professor of Military Science to get everything on track. And I didn’t know he had done this until years later.
I know they're many more untold stories, at least untold for now. I was blessed that I had a father that loved me and took care of me, even when I sometimes didn’t take care of myself. In turn, I loved him and will remember him fondly forever. ~Jay
Robert's Note to His Dad, June 19, 2022
Happy Father's Day!
I'm so thankful for you and grateful for the amazing role model that you've been!
As the boys get older, I realize how much effort you took to be present and involved in so much of my life growing up (sports, church, school, etc).
I'm trying to follow that example!
Love you, dad! ♥
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