Heard from my friend Ellie today that Jim Braman, her father in law, had suddenly passed away. As she said "He was MY dad for 27 years" I don't remember him so much, just very genial and accomplished. By coincidence he was a longtime friend of my father in law, Jim Barnes. I know that I've met him. Perhaps the Bramans came to the 50th anniversary party that we hosted in 1996. Perhaps, he came over when my inlaws were here.
I think he was one of the Young Planners, group of young engineers who were on the forefront of city and regional planning in the 1950s. In the last 10 years, the Young Planners would meet for lunch; Jim enjoyed that very much. He passed away 3 years ago.
But here is Jim Barnes, young planner himself! That's a Seattle map leaning against the wall. He moved to the Bay Area in 1955(?) to become Assistant City Manager of Berkeley. Then to Sacramento in 1967 to become Executive Director of the Sacramento Regional Area Planning Commission where he stayed until retirement in 1978. He retired at 55(!) I wish!
But he and his contemporaries felt that they were the next big thing, lots of new ideas for post-war communities. He had a great job, beautiful wife, young family. Jim Barnes, on his way!
But, I'm not sure. Was Jim Braman one of the Alki Boys instead?
No comments:
Post a Comment