Local Baptist pastor dies

Gary Moskowitz

The Rev. James Whitcomb Brougher Jr., a longtime pastor at the First

Baptist Church of Glendale, died Sunday in his sleep.

Brougher, who had been receiving 24-hour home care for nearly two

years, was 101. Family and friends this week remembered Brougher as a

devoted, hard-working man who loved to tell jokes.

“Dad had a phenomenal life,” said Brougher’s son, Frank. “He loved

to tell stories and jokes with a lot of humor, and loved to throw in

truths and lessons for life. There was always humor growing up in our

house. There will be some tears but a lot of laughter at his

funeral.”

Brougher was born June 27, 1902, in Chattanooga, Tenn. He grew up

in Los Angeles and attended the University of Redlands and Newton

Theological Seminary in Boston. He became the pastor of the First

Baptist Church of Glendale in 1927.

Brougher was active in the Glendale Chamber of Commerce and had 76

years of perfect attendance with the Glendale Kiwanis Club, family

members said.

Brougher was active in local Masonic lodges and was, for many

years, a chaplain for the Los Angeles Breakfast Club and the

Propeller Club of Los Angeles-Long Beach, family members said.

“His old friends always called him Jimmy,” said Elizabeth

Brougher-Dieudonne, Brougher’s daughter. “He could always tie jokes

into serious points he was trying to make. That way, they remembered

the joke, but also the moral or principle behind it. My father always

had that twinkle in his eye. We all loved him and will miss him.”

Brougher’s survivors include his daughters, Elizabeth

Brougher-Dieudonne and Linda Louise Brougher-Phillips; sons, James

Whitcomb Brougher III and the Rev. Frank Brougher; 10 grandchildren;

and five great-grandchildren. Brougher’s wife, Helen, died in 1986.

Brougher did not remarry.

His family will gather next week for a private memorial. A public

memorial will be Sept. 2 at the First Baptist Church of Glendale, 209

N. Louise St. Family members on Thursday had not set a time for the

public memorial.

His son Frank, the associate pastor at the church, will conduct

the memorial service.

Memorial contributions can be made to the J.W. Brougher Endowment

Fund, a fund established at the church on Brougher’s 100th birthday.