Obituary

Zetta Joanne Bracher, 84, of Bellingham Washington, passed away on August 13th, 2023, from natural causes.

Zetta Crawford was born the 10th of 11 siblings in Marysville, California on March 7th, 1939. She grew up living on a small farm in District 10, where she attended a one-room schoolhouse where her older sister, Dorthy, was the teacher. She experienced a rich family life with her large and loving family, in particular forming a lifelong bond with her mother, Lita Leone Crawford, a person beloved by pretty much everyone who ever met her. A gifted athlete and student in her high school years, Zetta went on to study at San Francisco State, where she met her husband, Frank Bracher.

Her life with Frank soon resulted in marriage and kids, including James Stevenson Bracher and Charles Russell Bracher, whom she proceeded to spoil. The family moved around quite a bit following Frank’s work opportunities, living in the San Francisco Bay Area, Washington State, France, England, Germany and the Sierra Nevadas.

Zetta was a patient and loving mother, who spent time enriching the lives of her family. She served time as a cub scout den mother, drove the boys to swimming and music lessons, and treated the family to delicious foods that she cooked and baked. She walked across many European cities and hiked along a few trails in the Sierras with her family and friends.

One aspect about living in foreign countries where we didn’t all speak the local language fluently was that the family was close, spending time playing card games, going for walks and playing ping pong. But we always found friends.

As the boys grew up and moved out, she and Frank settled in Bellingham. Once Frank passed away at the unfortunately young age of 50, she stayed on in Bellingham, finishing her degree at WWU Fairhaven and going on to work in real estate. She spent her time working to support the Whatcom County chapter of the Democratic Party, making a number of friends (and a few enemies) in the process.

She acquired some grandchildren, Ruby Bracher and Augustus Bracher, thanks to the union of Charles Bracher and Julia Etow, whom she loved and of whom she hung many portraits (the kids, that is).

As she grew much older, she continued to live at home with the help of Debbie Perez up until the last few months of her life which she spent in a rehabilitation center. She was there with her sons and Debbie making a recovery plan when she unexpectedly passed away in her sleep a few days later. She was in good spirits in her final days.

She was the last of her siblings, passing a week after her beloved brother, David. Other siblings that passed in the last year included her brother, Jon, and sister, Jean. She lived in a great generation of Crawfords that included her sisters: Dorthey, Merry, Charylin, Barbara and Jean and brothers: Jim, Bob, Dick, David and Jon.

She is survived by her son, James Stevenson (“Steve”) Bracher and partner, Cindy. And by her son, Charles Bracher and partner, Julia Etow, along with her grandkids, Ruby and Gus.

She made many friends in her travels and activities, too many to list here, but among those expected at her services are Lynda Liinima, a friend since their early days in San Francisco. Diana and Catherine were among her Bellingham friends and were a great help in caring for Zetta in her later days, as was Debbie Perez.