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(Rev: Jan 23, 2021)

Long-time friends know that Brent, in his younger days, loved practical jokes.  These stunts could be quite elaborate, though harmless.  

Brent also had a dry, understated sense of humor.

And… he had a terrible poker face.  His culpability was always betrayed by a poorly muted smile.  And given his blond complexion, he blushed easily which lead you to only one conclusion: “I knew you put me up this!”

But what goes around comes around.  As Brent’s friends got girlfriends and then married, he remained resolutely unattached and living at home.  So his friends got my mom to cooperate and they paid for a billboard on Division Ave across from Russ’.

As I recall he did get some calls which my mom answered and passed along the interest, but I don’t believe he ever followed up on any of the inquires.

It wasn’t until shortly thereafter that Sherry came along, turned his head, and… well… the rest is history.

With the funeral coming this Saturday, it will be a great way for everyone to pay tribute to Brent’s memory.

From Dave Ballast, long time friend going back to decades.

Poker:

Late night, make that till early morning, card games: Fur was always the last man at the table.  And some famous Fur quotes: “Just one more hand!”; “Flip a card, flip a dollar”; “Copper on the couch”; “Man or mouse? Take one for the team!”; “Triple burn, sky’s the limit”  And, “Hey Fur, need a card?”

(It should be noted here, Brent went by Fur in those days.  Dave recalls that may have been a progression from VerBurg to FurBurg to finally, just Fur.)

Many of these games date back to the Dykhouse days.  Some of the games may have involved bikes, snowmobiles, and other sophomoric behavior, but that’s all Dave has to say about that.

Golf outings:

Fur may have crashed a golf cart into and through a bunker on one of their famous Miller Lite Open and at Broadmoor Golf Club.  But fortunately, no broken bones, just recollections that bring a smile to Dave’s face.

Another golf outing: there was a $10 penalty if you landed in a bunker or water.  So Fur played that hole, from tee to cup, with his putter!  Of course, he “blew by par way back there”, but kept his ball on the grass.  

On another golf outing to South Carolina, Brent ran out of money the night before due to a bad card playing luck.  So Dave lent Fur $200 and when they returned home, Fur repaid Dave with quarters – $200 in quarters!  Who would take the time to go to the bank to get $200 in quarters?  No one but Fur.

(On a personal note: 800 quarters may be alright if you buy your lunch out of a vending machine every day!  But other than that… !?)

And what about the time Dave and his new wife came home to find ALL their furniture neatly stored in the basement?  Who do you suppose instigated that plan?

What about the time Dave stepped out of the house to go to work only to find his truck up on blocks!  Who would come out in the middle of the night and do something like that?  Who indeed… 

And that time on a snowmobile trip in the U.P. when Fur went flying by because the throttle stuck open, blowing a piston and breaking the suspension and another piston – that next 8 hours waiting in the bar for a rescue was… well enough said on that adventure.

And, every Saturday morning at Russ’: two blueberry pancakes.  Every week, week in, and week out. 

As far as the billboard story; Dave now admits playing a role in that.  Brent had it coming – it was expensive, but no doubt tops any prank Brent ever came up with.

All these stories and many more are making Dave smile even in the midst of losing a great friend.  And I have to admit: I’m smiling too… also crying… but still smiling!

So how and why did all these pranks come to an end?  One word: Sherry!  A wife has a way of making a guy grow up.  A wife is God’s way of making a guy grow up and into a man.  If it wasn’t for a wife, a guy would never grow up!

From Dennis DeJong, another long time friend going back to decades.

Dennis recalls the time he, Dave Ballast, and Brent went on a cruise right after high school. “Toward the end of the week, I noticed my bar tab was quite a bit less than Dave’s and Brent’s.  At the end of the cruise, I went to pay my tab and found it had jumped up substantially.  I turned around and noticed Brent’s cheesy grin.  He told me he and Dave wanted to help me catch up with them so on the last night of the cruise, he and Dave charged all their drinks to my room!”

And, “Brent was my best man at my wedding.  When the minister asked for the ring, Brent looked through all his pockets then said he must have lost it.  Then every groomsman repeated the same stunt until the guy at the end of the line said, ‘oh, here it is’ .  The minister said he was so glad I found it.  In the meantime, my bride almost had a panic attack.”

All I can say is, “Oh Dennis, Dennis, Dennis… you should have consulted with me before giving that ring to Brent.”  When I got married, I didn’t trust any of my brothers with the ring.  Instead, I gave it to Pastor Ron Kool.  He’s a minister, so what’s not to trust about that?  Ron asked why he was in charge of the ring.  I answered, “Trust me on this, Ron; you’re the man for the job; not that I don’t love my brothers, but I know better.  I don’t need my bride or new mother-in-law freaking out.”

Do you know what really cracked me up?  Some uninvited guests showed up at my wedding with “double-entendre” names like Ben Dover and Harry Balls and a few others.  That next week my new mother-in-law was paging through the guest book and naively asked if these were friends of mine.  I managed to suppress my laughter, but only for a minute until she said, in all earnestness, “Wait a minute, Bob… do you think one of your brothers signed these names?  Here, look at this, they are all on the same page and in the same handwriting!”

I couldn’t tell my new mother-in-law one of my brothers did that, but I knew what Brent’s handwriting looked like.  We still have that guest book.

Both my wife and my mother-in-law are an only child so they wouldn’t have appreciated the dynamic of growing up with brothers.  Since then, Kim gets it now, but 20 years ago… not so much.  So thanks to Ron – crisis averted!