Harry Brink, age 90, of Cherokee, Iowa, died peacefully from pneumonia at Careage Hills nursing home on Saturday, December 27, after a year-and-a-half struggle with cancer. Harry was a dedicated husband and family man, a joyful and tireless golfer, a free thinker, a gifted storyteller, an insatiable reader of history, philosophy, and world events, an enthusiastic and engaging conversationalist, a charge-ahead "do-er" who never let lack of know-how slow him down, and, above all, a generous and admired friend. He looked squarely at a difficult world and faced each day with a genuinely positive attitude.
Harry was born December 4, 1924, in Marion, Iowa, the sixth and last living child of Benjamin Harrison and Minnie Belle Brink. He grew up in Correctionville. In April 1943, two months before graduating from high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy with his two best buddies. He served as a signalman on a troop carrier in the Pacific until his honorable discharge in December 1945. He was proud to say the Navy promoted him several times but then demoted him as often for being AWOL or other "minor" violations; he ended his Naval career as he began it, a private first class. He forever after abhorred war, but his war-time experiences provided material for many unforgettable stories.
During one unofficially extended leave, Harry married the sweetheart of his youth, Kathryn Holcomb, also of Correctionville, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He became smitten with Kathryn at age 15 and "chased" her until she returned the feelings, or at least stopped resisting. After his discharge from military service, they lived in Sioux City while Harry went to barber school, then moved to Sutherland where he barbered until 1974. Then he entered the insurance business and ran his own independent agency until he retired in 1990. He was an active member of the American Legion and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Sioux City.
Harry and Kathryn had an idyllic life in Sutherland. They raised five grateful children: Barbara (Gilliand) of Burnsville, Minnesota; Christine (Struve) of Sutherland; Marcia of Ames, Iowa; Steven (who died in 1980); and John of Des Moines, Iowa.
In 1997 Harry and Kathryn moved to a new home in Cherokee, Iowa. After Kathryn's death in 2006, Harry lived part-time and then full-time in Mesa, Arizona, where he devoted his days to playing as much golf as even he could handle and cutting the occasional head of hair just for the pleasure of it.
Harry's devotion to golf was legendary. Sometimes he left his car running or the trunk open in his eagerness to get on the course. Golf never seemed to tire him. Perhaps his record is the day in Cherokee when he golfed 36 holes in the morning and 36 more after lunch, then went home and mowed the lawn. His last "nine" that afternoon, he said, was his best score of the day.
And the way Harry played golf was a metaphor for his life. As one good friend wrote, Harry "hit straight, always putted out, and never cussed." He worked on a credo for several years. It was important to him that people understand his philosophy:
Treat people of any race, gender, culture, or sexual orientation as equals, with dignity and respect, respect for the right of an individual to do whatever he or she chooses provided it is not harmful to others. Be truthful. Honor your agreements. Help others. Encourage open discourse. Welcome criticism of your ideas and beliefs. Be open to any idea and skeptical of all ideas. Accept an idea as true if supported by enough evidence. Apply reason and science to gather evidence to solve human issues and better understand our world.
These are all things that Harry read about and continued to add to, wondering if he would ever reach a conclusion. He often summed up his credo as "Be good. Do good."
When Harry was diagnosed with incurable cancer in the summer of 2013, a friend said, "Harry has taught us how to live, and now he will teach us how to die." In the end, Harry did it his way, stopping the antibiotics that would have prolonged a quality of life he was no longer satisfied with. Some of his final words were, "I'm so lucky."
In the spring of 2014 Harry returned to Iowa to be near family. For the past several months, Harry's children and grandchildren and their partners, his great-grandchildren, nieces, and countless friends and admirers have been celebrating Harry's life in person, with him. No additional memorial service is planned. The family sincerely thanks the staff of Careage Hills nursing home, the Lakes Regional Hospice, and Cherokee Regional Medical Center Hospice. Memorial gifts may be sent to the American Cancer Society or the hospice of your choice.