Obituary of Donald Carl Brasek

Donald Carl Brasek (age 79) of Ashburn and formerly of Centreville, VA, passed away peacefully on July 20, 2018 at the Ashby Ponds retirement community.  “Don” was born in Chicago, IL, the only child of Carl and Lillian (Scharfenstein) Brasek, and raised in several states before settling in Camden, NJ.  At age 17, he started his career of nearly six decades in the communications field as a lineman with Bell Telephone.  From there, Don rose to higher levels of responsibility in communications engineering management at Bell Telephone and AT&T.  In 1988, he was hired by the General Services Administration (GSA) to begin work on the Federal Telecommunications System 2000 project as a network engineer.  Don continued to work for GSA until his retirement in 2011.  He is a graduate of Camden Catholic High School, and earned his undergraduate (Rutgers University) and masters (Central Michigan University) degrees by attending night school.    
While installing phones as lineman for Bell in 1962, Don met his future wife, Jeannette Peyton, at her office at the Reading Railroad headquarters in Philadelphia.  He intentionally left a wrench behind on her desk with the plan to return later for her home phone number.  The couple were married in 1964 and had four children.
Don approached life with a quiet passion and persistent determination.  He eagerly pursued many pastimes: tennis, French cooking (a la Julia Child), Bossa Nova jazz music, astronomy (grinding his own telescope lenses), drag racing (in his 1949 Mercury a la James Dean), amateur radio operations, B-grade movies, sharpshooting and electronic gadgets of any kind.
Don is survived by his beloved wife, Jeannette, three sons, Thomas (Elizabeth), Donald (Martha) and Carl (Sharon) Brasek, one daughter Donna (Andrew) Devitt, and seven grandchildren:  John “Jack” and Harlan Brasek, Keeleigh and Kasey Devitt, Braedon and Benjamin Brasek-Wilcox, and John Andrew Brasek.   He was predeceased by his parents, Lillian and Carl Brasek and in-laws, Thomas and Jeannette Peyton.
Don Brasek kept anyone around him amused with an endless stream of puns, jokes and good humor.  A devoted family man, he was always a “man of his word”.  Whether it was a thesis paper or a life-long decision we could always count on him for sage advice. Don will be sorely missed by all those he loved.
A viewing, Funeral Mass, and Rite of Christian Burial will be held at St. Theresa Roman Catholic Church, 21371 St. Theresa Lane, Ashburn, VA 20147 on Thursday, 26 July starting at 10:30AM.  In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to St. Theresa Church in Don’s name.