James Dietzen Bratcher, Sr. went on to be with our Lord and Savior on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012 at the age of 75.
A native of Red Bank, Tennessee, was born July 20th, 1937. Jim graduated from Red Bank High School in 1955. He was co-captain of the 1954 Red Bank High School football team where he received numerous awards. He attended Carson Newman College and graduated in 1959. He was the captain of the 1958 Carson Newman football team. Jim joined ARO, Inc. at AEDC in 1959 as an Instrumentation Engineer in the Instrument Branch of the Propulsion Wind Tunnel Facility. Over the next few years he developed his expertise in optical instrumentation and became a pioneer in the development and application of flow visualization techniques and high speed photography for wind tunnel testing. He became the Supervisor of the Optical Instrumentation Group in 1963 and continued to lead this group until his retirement in 1993. Mr. Bratcher served as a director on the board of the Tennessee Credit Union League from 1988 to 1994. He served the AEDC Federal Credit Union as follows: A member of the Credit Committee from 1981 to 1986; member of the Advisory Committee from October 1986 to March 1987; member of the Board of Directors from 1987 to December 1997. During his 10 years on the board, he served as Secretary in 1994 and Vice Chairman from 1995 to 1996. Organized and was the President of the Tullahoma Dart Association and was inducted into the Tennessee Dart Hall of Fame. On January 6th, 1997, he was involved in a traffic accident that left him permanently and totally disabled.
Mr. Bratcher was preceded in death by his parents, Claude and Margurite Dietzen Bratcher and younger brother, Nick Bratcher, all of Chattanooga.
He is survived by three brothers Claude Bratcher, Jr., Ten Mile, TN, Ted (Judy) Bratcher, Red Bank, TN, Robert (Maleta) Bratcher, Jackson, TN, daughter Brenda (Steve) Bratcher Ball, Murfreesboro, TN, son James D. Bratcher, Jr, Tullahoma; grandchildren James D. (Deanna) Bratcher, III, Wesley (Jill) Pless, Diana Bratcher (Todd) Murray, and Corey Pless; five great-grandchildren Mason and Katelyn Bratcher, Jacy Kate and Makayla Murray, and Olivia Pless.
Family visitation will be held Thursday October 4th, 2012 at 11:00am in the Kilgore Funeral Home Chapel with the funeral service immediately following at 1:00 pm.
In lieu of flowers, the family request donations be made to the Kate Walk Scholarship Fund. Checks should be mailed to American City Bank, 340 West Lincoln St., Tullahoma, TN 37388.
Kilgore Funeral Home