A Celebration of Life for Virgil Lee Braden, aged 96, of Lawrence, will be held from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., Saturday, July 26, 2025 at 1509 N 1732 Rd, Lawrence, Kansas, 66044. Lunch will be served.
Virgil died Tuesday, June 17, 2025, at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
Born to Lee W. Braden and Myrtle E. (Brock) Braden on October 8,1928 in Fort Scott, Kansas.
Virgil served in the U.S. Navy from October 1948 to May 1951. He was honorably discharged and moved to Lawrence in 1951. There, he would serve as a firefighter until August of 1953. He then began his 41-year-long career at the Lawrence Paper Company.
On June 12, 1954, Virgil married and started his family.
He is survived by his wife of 71 years, Marian (Dicker) Braden, aged 95; his three children, Barry Braden, Brenda Braden, and Belinda (Braden) Reynolds; his 7 grandchildren, Ryan Reynolds, Robbie Reynolds, John Reynolds, Sarah Reynolds, Carmen Braden, Angela Braden, and Bethany Braden; as well as 4 great grandchildren, Hazel, Dean, Lincoln, and Russell. He is also survived by a brother, Robert G. Braden of Cheyenne WY, and preceded in death by his sister, Virginia C. (Braden) Lightwine, of Fort Scott, KS, and half-sister Dorothy L. (Braden) Thornbrugh.