Opal Brackenbury

Opal Elva White Brackenbury, 88, died Dec. 10, 2007 at Mercy Hospice in Johnston, Iowa. A resident of The Groves in Independence, MO from 1997 to 2006, she was residing with her daughter Pamela, in Des Moines, at the time of her death.
Mrs. Brackenbury was born Jan. 27, 1919 in Searcy, AR to Foster and Elvah Baker White. She earned an Associate of Arts Degree in music from Graceland College in 1936 and worked as personal secretary to the President of Trans World Airways before marrying Robert Leo Brackenbury in 1943.
After putting her husband through graduate school at the University of Chicago, she devoted herself to raising her family in Burbank, CA, where she taught piano and volunteered with the P.T.A., Girl Scouts and other community organizations.
Opal was a lifelong member of the Community of Christ Church (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), serving as Music Director, Church School Director, and Treasurer of the Burbank, CA congregation. With her husband she enjoyed foreign travel, living at different periods in Brazil and Germany, and acted for over thirty years as a special friend and mentor to numerous international students at the University of Southern California.
In addition to Pamela, survivors include her other two daughters, Deborah Brackenbury of Broomfield, CO and Jennifer Boger of Chapel Hill, NC; four grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. She will be interred at Mound Grove Cemetery in Independence with a memorial service to be held in the spring of 2008 on a date yet to be determined. Contributions in her memory may be made to Outreach International.