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Brinson Hood

In Loving Memory

Hood, Brinson E.

September 3, 1942 - January 31, 2024

Wednesday, January 31, 2024.

Beloved husband of Durinda Hood (nee Alexander); loving father of Stephanie (Alan) McReynolds; cherished grandfather of Fiona McReynolds; adoring brother of Carl (Barbara Wells) and Bryant “Bucky” (Donna) Hood and the late Kathy Hood Allen; dear brother-in-law of Dennis (Camillle Kenney) and Dwight (Shelley) Alexander. Our dearest uncle, great-uncle, cousin and friend to many.

Visitation at Old Orchard Church (640 Amelia Ave. Webster Groves, Mo. 63119) on Monday, February 5 from 9:45 am. until Funeral Service time at 10:45 am.  Service to be livestreamed at https://youtube.com/live/ojj_j4iYXyg?feature=share . Interment at St. Paul Churchyard Cemetery. Contributions to Old Orchard Church, Manor Grove and Evelyn’s House Hospice appreciated.

The Life of Brinson Eugene Hood

September 3, 1942  – January 31, 2024

Born on September 3, 1942, ten months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, in Augusta, Georgia, to Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Eugene (“Gene”) and Evelyn Miriam (Faglier) Hood. Brinson was the oldest of four children. He had three younger siblings: Carl, Kathy (now deceased), and Bryant (“Bucky”). Brinson earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Mercer University in Georgia. This was followed by some graduate work at Vanderbilt University.

From the early 1960s to about 1970 Brinson worked for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a U. S. Department of Energy reservation created to refine nuclear materials for deployment in nuclear weapons. Somewhere along the way, Brinson did a short stint as a public school math teacher; but while loving math he decided he didn’t love teaching! At some point in the early 1970s he biked across Europe (!!). While there, Brinson spent time at French L’Abri, and on occasion traveled from there to Switzerland to hear Dr. Francis Schaeffer lecture at L’Abri Fellowship, a Christian study center in the Swiss Alps. At L’Abri Brinson heard about a  church, Grace and Peace Fellowship, and moved to St. Louis to join that Presbyterian congregation which was trying to serve the western edge of the city with focus on racial reconciliation and reaching into the arts community with the beauty of God’s world and his truth.

It was at Grace and Peace in the 1970s that Brinson met his love, Durinda Joyce Alexander! They were married on August 11, 1978, and remained in that church until 1981, when they decided to throw in their lot with a group of 23 or so Grace and Peacers who were sent out that summer to plant a church in Webster Groves, a southwestern suburb of St. Louis city.

In March of 1980 their precious daughter, Stephanie Joyce was born to them. Stephanie eventually graduated from St. Louis University and in 2007 married Alan Roy McReynolds. Along with their 10 yr. old daughter, Fiona Ophelia, they now reside in Syracuse, New York, where Alan works as a paralegal in the employ of the New York State Office of Indigent Legal Services in Buffalo, New York. After finishing her undergraduate degree at St. Louis University, Stephanie earned a Masters degree in Library Science from the University of Missouri at Columbia. She has worked at Syracuse University for ten years, where she was recently promoted, now serving at the highest level as a full Librarian for Business, Management, and Entrepreneurship. Fiona enjoys growing up! Stephanie has proven to be a tender and faithful daughter to her father and mother through years of hardship, and we commend her for that sensitivity, for the kindness in her care.

For a good part of his adult life Brinson battled a burdensome illness, bipolar disorder, which robbed him of long-term stability, and inhibited the full development of his God-given gifts. But in the early years of his work-life he was employed as a chemist, first, serving as a Research Assistant at St. Louis University, and then for a year (1986-87) at the Kilgore, Texas campus of Petrolite Corporation. When the Hoods returned to St. Louis in 1987, Brinson worked at the Webster University bookstore, the Cokesbury bookstore, and later, at Covenant Seminary’s bookstore when it was still a store on campus. That was followed by work in several area grocery stores. Sometime in 2015 Brinson settled into retirement.

Until his death, Brinson was one of the three founding members who remain at Old Orchard Church (the other two are Durinda and Becca Skrainka). Brinson served the congregation faithfully until around 2015, when his illness sidelined him at home, and then for the last five years at the Manor Grove Home in Kirkwood. Over the decades Brinson wrote thoughtful articles for the Overture, the church’s communal “bulletin board,” and submitted bits of the cornball humor he loved and was so good at! For several years he served in the rotation for the public reading of Scripture on the Lord’s Day, and for many more years, attended the weekly Men’s Bible Study. With his participation he supported the church’s small group ministry, and was there most of the time when the church’s doors were open for worship and other events! Brinson also worked hard at developing relationships with older men outside the congregation who were not believers, seeking to bear witness to them of Christ’s love, and often inviting them to worship services and events. One of them became a friend of the congregation for 20+ years and may well have put his faith in Christ when he died a few years ago. Besides all these things, some years ago Brinson, along with Durinda, helped organize a support group set up for couples who either had, or lived with a spouse who was bipolar. The Hoods participated in that group for years.

Near noon on Wednesday, January 31, 2024, at the good old age of 81, Brinson Eugene was finally released from all that weighed him down, and took the first step into the spectacular glory Jesus Christ won for him, and for which he was born.

And finally, it should be noted that Durinda—and she should be commended for it—Brinson’s wife of 45 years, was so loyal to and caring of her man, through thick and thin. While they enjoyed many, many good times through the years, life also became very trying for them, and Brinson’s difficulties became deeply challenging for Durinda. Early on it was uncertainty about what was happening to Brinson in the episodes he endured; later it was hospitalizations, doctor visits, the loss of significant income when Brinson couldn’t work, or not much—and on and on. Here is a woman who knew, by the grace of God, how to honor the troth she pledged when she married Brinson and committed herself to him with these words, or something close to them:

I, Durinda, take thee, Brinson, to be my wedded husband; to have and to hold from this day forward; for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health; in joy and in sorrow, to love and to cherish, till death us do part; according to God’s holy ordinance; and thereto I pledge thee my faithfulness.

So we say, Well done, dear sister! The grace of God has been strong in you, and we commend you.

**  **  **

Your heart is pure now, and your mind is whole, dear brother—wildly whole, and far beyond the paltry state of being we call “wholeness” here. You are safe forever, as you await, with all those perfected spirits in heaven, the second step: when the Lord Jesus returns and resurrects your body so that you might live forever in “the power of an indestructible life.” So we bid you farewell and say, Soli Deo Gloria. To God alone be the glory for your life—the life, loves, accomplishments, and gritty, yet tender faith in Jesus Christ, of Brinson Eugene Hood.

Pastor Ron Lutjens

 

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2 thoughts on “Hood, Brinson E.”

  1. Dear Cousin Durinda, Stephanie and Family,
    I’m so very sorry to hear of the passing of your dad, husband, grandfather and friend.
    Brinson was such a smart man who lived and loved serving God. Now, he is, totally, healed, helped and whole by our Greatest Physician. Brinson awaits us, all, who choose to seek God, His forgiveness, love and grace.
    I love you.
    🙏💙 Kay
    Proverbs: 3: 5, 6

    Reply
  2. My deepest sympathy for the passing of Brinson. He was a wonderful man who loved his family and the Lord. My prayers are with the family and always remember you are loved.

    Reply

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