Obituary: Eugene Richard Braun, August 25, 1928—March 29, 2020 Eugene Richard Braun, 91, died at home in East Chatham, NY, on Sunday, March 29, surrounded by his family. Gene, as he was called, was born in Chicago to JJ and Lucy Braun, the fourth of five children. As the son of a pastor and church planter, he grew up in Webster Groves, MO, and North Tonawanda, NY. He attended Elmhurst College, where he met his future partner, Helen Herrscher, and they courted while he pursued a degree in Agriculture from Cornell University, followed by studies at Eden Theological Seminary during which time Helen received a degree in nursing. After getting married in 1953, Gene and Helen join the United Andean Indian Mission as agricultural and health missionaries in rural Ecuador. In 1955 they traveled to Ecuador, via Costa Rica for language training, and worked with a group of other missionaries on a project to bring education, agricultural training, health services, and evangelism to native Andean groups in northern Ecuador. The successes, failures, and lessons of this experience influenced Gene's thinking for the rest of his life, while the friendships made during this time will last across generations well beyond his life. After a decade of work with the mission, Gene was instrumental in a process of handing over all aspects of the mission work to the growing local Ecuadorian church. In 1967, Gene joined the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and continued pursuing his passion for social change and development on a larger scale than had been possible with the mission, fostering rural agricultural cooperatives and building local management skills and capacity. As part of his work with USAID, Gene nurtured the Ecuadorian Center for Motivational Training (CEMA) with a brilliant group of Ecuadorians excited to train businesses, non-profit organizations, a local soccer team, and many other groups in skills such as conflict resolution, group decision making, and staff motivation. In 1972, CEMA won a contract to provide in-country training services for Peace Corps Volunteers arriving in Ecuador. CEMA hired Gene as this program's director. By 1977, Gene had moved to working part-time with the PCV training program, having set in place a smooth-running and effective local team to do the work. From the late 1970s on, Gene dedicated himself to other emerging passions. He started a landscaping business around Quito, using local fledgling flower and shrub producers as suppliers, an enterprise that gave him a formal venue to always keep his hands in dirt. He took on numerous consulting gigs for both church and development organizations around Latin America, and he accepted an invitation to be the radical pastor of one of the nearby indigenous churches, established during his missionary days. He helped Helen with the organizational side as she and colleagues launched the development of family therapy in Ecuador. This later morphed into volunteer support to and service on the board of the newly formed Centro Integral de la Familia (CIF), which has offered Master's Degree programs in family therapy through local universities and to this day provides family therapy services. In 1992, Gene worked with the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) to provide U.S. churches with information about the disastrous effects of Columbus' arrival on native populations, the role of the church in many of these atrocities, and what people of faith could do as part of reparations. After taking a workshop offered by the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) one summer while visiting his sons, he returned to Ecuador and connected people to AVP, such that now AVP-Ecuador provides workshops country-wide. During this time Gene read widely, and many friends and family remember him for his passing on just the right article or book to stimulate whole new realms of thought and action. He mentored numerous friends who crossed his path and he will likely be remembered by many for sowing seeds and helping to mature seedlings in an agricultural, organizational, and personal sense. Gene had a wonderful sense of humor, was a great conversationalist, and was loved for his kindness and deep listening. Gene and Helen's home had a constant flow of visitors who always received a good meal and often found a free bed to sleep in during their travels. Starting in 2007, Gene and Helen began to spend summers with their sons and their families in upstate New York at the Quaker Intentional Village-Canaan (QIVC). As managing their affairs became increasingly difficult, Gene and Helen left Ecuador in 2017 to live at QIVC close to family. In his last years, Gene's spiritual focus increasingly moved towards the Quaker and Celtic paths to understanding the divine and interacting with the world. He was buried wrapped only in a shroud, very much in full-body contact with soil, as he wished. In addition to his wife of 66 years, Gene is survived by his son and daughter-in-law Jens and Spee Braun and son Eric Harris-Braun, grandchildren Natalie (Aaron) Lindop-Braun, Lucas Braun, Caleb Braun, William Harris-Braun, and Jess Harris-Braun, and great-grandchildren Theo and River. His daughter Andrea (Andi) preceded him in death. A memorial service will be planned once gatherings of large groups can again be held. Memorial contributions may be made to the Centro Integral de la Familia, Vicente Ramón Roca E8-73 y Leonidas Plaza, Quito 170143, Ecuador, or to PAV Ecuador c/o Friends Peace Teams en Las Américas, 1001 Park Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63104 USA. Condolences may be conveyed at frenchblasl.com.