Otis Bryan England, deacon, veteran, retired bureaucrat, social activist and unapologetic liberal died November 30^th at Kansas City Hospice House after a short but courageous battle with his third bout of cancer.  He was a resident of Independence, MO at the time of his death. 

Celebration of Life services for Bryan will be at 10:30 AM on December 28, 2019 at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, Kansas City, MO.  In lieu of flowers his family requests memorials be made to a cause near and dear to Bryan’s heart, Moms Demand Action.  Donations in his name can be made at https://support.momsdemandaction.org/give/263838/#!/donation/checkout

Bryan was born January 28, 1949 to Otis and Lola (Hedrick) England in Mammoth Spring, Arkansas.  He never really forgave them for naming him Otis.

 He served his country in Viet Nam, as a helicopter pilot with F Troop, 8^th Calvary and was honorably discharged from the US Army as a captain, earning among other medals, the Bronze Star. 

He graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a master’s degree in history. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize until he already had his degree that history majors can’t really earn a living in their chosen field.

Most of his adult life was spent serving his country as a civil servant, first with the Department of Energy, then the Department of Army and finally Homeland Security, in the area of Immigration and Naturalization.  When he said he knew more about immigration than you did, he wasn’t kidding.   He retired on November 30, 2013.  The exactly six years of retirement he was blessed with were filled with climbing mountains, lounging around the pool at the Bellagio and sipping Canadian Club.

He was ordained a deacon in the Episcopal church in April of 1994.  He served churches in Davenport, Bettendorf and Clinton, Iowa and Kansas City, Missouri.  He firmly believed that the role of a deacon was to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.  His sermons, especially since the 2016 election, angered some and encouraged and uplifted others.  When cancer interfered with his speaking voice and he had to stop preaching he started a blog and posted his sermons there.  In his own words, “So, in order to be pissed off by what I said in my sermon you will have to hunt it down and read it, yourself. I'll try not to let you down.”  His blog can be found at deaconbryan@blogspot.com

Bryan was socially active, working with many groups and causes to increase the minimum wage, to promote peace and to advocate for common sense gun control.  His ministry also included being a chaplain to both hospitals and police departments in Virginia, Iowa and Missouri. 

In his younger, healthier years, he loved running, participating in the Bix 7 several times and running marathons in the Quad Cities, Houston, Chicago and New York City.  His most recent passions included feeding the birds and recycling and watching episodes of West Wing ad nauseum. 

He is survived by his wife of 33 years, Linda, Independence, daughter Missy (Dave) Parkin, Davenport, IA, brother, Jerry (Margaret) Lee’s Summit, sister Linda Bost (Jim), Lawrence, KS, sister-in-law Carolyn Wulf (Herb) , Davenport, IA, nephew David (Lisa) England, Lee’s Summit, niece Kim England (Rob Freeland), St. Pete’s Beach, FL, nephews Paul (Megan) and Derek Bost, Lawrence, KS, niece Tina (Tim) Dominicus and nephew Todd Wulf, all of Davenport ,IA, great nieces and nephews, cousins, colleagues and friends.

The family wishes to thank everyone for their love, support and prayers during the last few weeks of Bryan’s life, with special gratitude to the Hospice House of Kansas City.

Everyone dies but not everyone lives. William Wallace

Bryan lived.