Everyone reading this knows that Brad was about as kind and considerate a man as there ever has lived.  So I hope you appretiate the irony of this story.

Around 1976 our band, American Ingenuity got a gig at an italian restaraunt in Anaheim, called Tropianos.  There was a big stage and dance floor and it was our first regular gig.  One evening we had a particularly nice crowd and the dance floor was full of enthusiastic youngsters.  After a particularly fun set some kids came up to the stage to talk to the musicians.

Brad said to one of the boys, "I can see you really like music, do you play an instrument?"  The boy looked down and said, "no I can't." 

"Of course you can," Brad responded.  "Why don't you play the clarinet?"

The boy repeated, "I can't."  But Brad would not be disuaded.  He said, "Why don't you play the piano or the trumpet?"

"I can't," repeated the boy.  "Why not?" asked Brad.

"Because I ain't got no arms," the boy said.  Brad was mortified.  He noticed then that the boy really did not have arms (Brad had thought he was just dancing around with his arms in his shirt as children sometimes do.)

Finally, in a very flustered voice Brad said, "You can be a singer."

Introductory Prayer from the Life Celebration for Brad Wallace:

Father God, Lord of Heaven and Earth; Eternal Provider, Healer, and Comforter; we are gathered here today to give You thanks for, and say goodbye to, my brother, Bradley Wallace.

We know that you have designed the role of earthly fathers to be many things: protector, provider, comforter, patient teacher, husband, lover, companion, ... In fact, we are to be examples to our families of what You are. They are supposed to be able to look at us, at our lives and character and learn from this what their perfect, Heavenly Father is like.

The fact is that we aren’t perfect; my brother wasn’t perfect, our father wasn’t and I’m not either. But he was wonderful, nevertheless. He was very aware that he probably didn’t have a lot of time to spare so he invested it wisely. He was a good provider and worked very hard to give his family everything he could. He spent as much time with them as possible. He taught them at every opportunity. He poured out love on all of us, his friends and family, and told us so. He was so proud of his family. He loved his wife, Ann, and he showed it. He taught them by example to love life, to laugh as often as possible, to make music and sing at every opportunity, to enjoy nature, to love each other and their friends, to be available when people needed them, to share what You have given to them with those in need, to enjoy being alone, to be willing to try new things, to love to travel and meet new people, to be creative and willing to make mistakes in the process, and then to learn from them and go on.

In fact, he did a good job. We are proud to have had such a man for our brother, father and friend, and we thank You for him.

Now Lord, we ask that your Holy Spirit would bring anything which remains unresolved with Bradley to our minds; any hurts, any perceived slights, any unforgiveness, in fact, anything at all that comes to mind that we need to deal with. (long pause)  And now, we release these things to You, Lord. We forgive Brad for not being perfect. And we release each of these things to You. We say that we have been truly blessed to have had him as father, brother and friend. We acknowledge that in many cases, You have used him to teach, guide and mold us into what we are. We thank you for your provision.

Thank you Lord; You are a Great and Glorious God. We love and worship You for what You have accomplished through Brad. He will live on through all of our great memories, through what he taught and modeled to us, and through his wife and children. We are better people because of him. And now we let him go.

We now release him to you, Lord. We release him into Your presence. We miss him terribly and look forward to the day when we will be reunited. We say good-bye to him for now.

Good bye, Brad. See you soon.

Amen.

This video slideshow was shown at the Celebration of Life for Brad on September 7, 2013 at the Unity Center in San Diego. It provides a glimpse of Brad's passions in life, including family, music, teaching, and travel. Thanks to all who contributed photographs, especially Brad's sister Wendy and his brother Scott. The opening tune in the soundtrack is Brad's and Dan Reed's original, "Hot Tamales." Brad plays keyboards and sings the lead on "Under the Boardwalk" and harmony vocals on "Forever Young" and "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."