[KCDXC] Fw: BRADY SUICIDE N4BQW

[M.Crabtree]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Steve Gecewicz (MYedl)
To: M.Crabtree
Sent: Friday, July 28, 2006 9:34 PM
Subject: BRADY SUICIDE


  Astronaut Brady's Death Stuns Area

BY JOHN CHAPPELL: STAFF WRITER

Astronaut Charles E. Brady, formerly of Robbins, is dead at 54.
His home town is in mourning over the loss of one of its most illustrious 
sons: an Eagle Scout, an athlete, a doctor, a Blue Angel, and a space 
traveler. A huge mural depicting Brady and the Space Shuttle Columbia 
overlooks the railroad across from the Old Elise Depot and the town hall.
Now the town is puzzled and saddened by reports of the circumstances of his 
death.
According to Chuck McCarty, a dispatcher with the Sheriff's Office in San 
Juan County, Wash., Brady died of apparently self-inflicted wounds.
Sheriff's deputies had responded to a call from a home on Orcas Island 
Sunday afternoon, July 23.
When they arrived at the scene, they spoke to a woman, Susan Oseth, and a 3- 
or 4-year-old girl.
Jon Zerby, undersheriff of San Juan County, said Brady and Oseth lived 
together on Orcas Island. Zerby said Brady was divorced.
Found After Search
A deputy reported that "Oseth told him Brady had left on foot and gone to a 
wooded part of the island. The Island is big, 58 square miles, according to 
Deputy Ray Clever, senior officer on the scene.
"The call had come in for a verbal dispute, but [there were indications of] 
something more unusual," Clever said. "That was a huge area to cover."
Seeking to render Brady aid, the deputies called for backup and began a 
search.
After a time, the officers discovered Brady's body in a wooded area. A 
paramedic pronounced him dead at the scene, and the body was taken to nearby 
Snohomish County for an autopsy.
Neither the woman nor the child were physically harmed in the incident, 
according to the deputies.
Orcas Island is off the coast near Bellingham, Wash. Brady and his former 
wife, Cathy, had previously maintained a home on Ben Ure Island, Oak Harbor, 
Wash.
Funeral arrangements are being handled privately.
Brady was celebrated for his many accomplishments. His space flight 10 years 
ago remains the longest such mission to date. Brady and six other astronauts 
orbited the earth 271 times and broke the shuttle endurance record by eight 
hours.
That mission included studies sponsored by 10 nations and five space 
agencies, and the crew included a Frenchman, a Canadian, a Spaniard and an 
Italian. Brady was one of three mission specialists who conducted a number 
of experiments -- mostly on themselves -- in the orbiter's Life and 
Microgravity Spacelab.
Brady would later describe that flight as "a sort of test bed for the 
international space station." He came back with a vivid memory of having 
seen rain forest devastation and damaged river systems, and a determination 
to do what he could to protect the earth.
He didn't set out to go to space, but to follow in the footsteps of his 
father, a small town doctor. His father, the late Charles Eldon Brady Sr., 
was a family doctor with his practice in Robbins. An Eagle Scout, Brady 
graduated from North Moore High School in 1969, studied pre-medicine at the 
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received his medical degree 
at Duke University in 1975.
>From Duke, he went to the University of Tennessee Hospital in Knoxville for 
his internship, then entered practice with a focus on sports medicine, 
serving as team physician for Iowa State University in Ames. He continued in 
sports medicine and family practice for the next seven years, working as a 
team physician at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and East 
Carolina University, then joined the Navy.
As a Navy doctor, Brady trained to be a flight surgeon at the Naval 
Aerospace Medical Institute at Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Fla. In June 
1986, he reported to Carrier Air Wing Two on board the aircraft carrier USS 
Ranger and was assigned to the attack wing including Attack Squadron 145 and 
Aviation Electronic Countermeasures Squadron 131.
Two years later, Brady joined the "Blue Angels," the famous Navy Flight 
Demonstration Squadron. He served with them through 1990, and was serving in 
Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 129 when tapped by NASA for the 
astronaut program.
Brady reported to Johnson Space Center in August 1992. In addition to his 
Columbia flight, Brady worked on technical issues for the Astronaut Office 
Mission Development Branch; flight software testing in the Shuttle Avionics 
Integration Laboratory (SAIL); was astronaut representative to the Human 
Research Policy and Procedures Committee; deputy chief for Space Shuttle 
astronaut training; and chief for Space Station astronaut training in the 
Mission Operations Division.
He logged more than 405 hours in space before returning to Navy duty as a 
surgeon. Born August 12, 1951, in Pinehurst, Brady always considered Robbins 
his hometown.
Brady enjoyed canoeing, kayaking, tennis, biking, and was an amateur radio 
operator. After the death of his father, Brady's mother, Ann Maness Brady, 
continued to make her home in Robbins. One sister, Jerry Ann Kennedy, her 
husband Clifford, and two children Mark and Mary Jayne live in Burlington.
John Chappell can be reached at 783-5841 or by e-mail at 
jchappell at thepilot.com.