Wasco County Commissioner Phil Brady speaks at the Hood River City Council town hall April 23, as Councilors Ben Mitchell, Anna Cavaleri and Grant Polson listen.
THE DALLES — During his years as a missionary in Venezuela, Wasco County Commissioner Philip “Phil” Brady built a telescope.
“We would stargaze at night as a way to visit with people,” Brady reflected during a county board meeting in April. He wondered at the time if these sessions were meaningful to his neighbors or merely tolerated until one evening he shared a stunning view of Saturn with an elderly woman.
“...Afterwards, she said, ‘Thank you so much. I never thought I would see this with my own eyes,’ and then I realized, ‘Oh, I'm doing exactly the right thing.’”
Friends and colleagues are remembering the 70-year-old former science teacher’s life devoted to public service and his constant, teacherly invitations to experience the wonder of the natural world.
Brady passed away after a heart attack on Election Day, May 19, as ballots streamed back to the Wasco County Clerk’s office selecting him as the frontrunner by 36% in his bid for a second term as county commissioner.
Oregon law now advances Mike Urness, who ended election night with 35% of the vote, to the November ballot. Current commissioners Chair Scott Hege and Jeff Justesen will appoint a new member to finish out Brady’s term in the coming weeks.
County officials and staff gathered at the regularly-scheduled board meeting May 20 to find Brady’s seat empty and a single red rose placed on the table where he served as commissioner for four years.
A life of service
Known for his reflective, “listen first” approach to leadership, Brady often spoke about growing up within walking distance of Brady’s Market, the downtown grocery store his father operated on Third Street.
“I learned from him what it means to treat people fairly, work until the job is done, and give back,” Brady wrote on his re-election campaign website.
After graduating from Gonzaga University with a degree in physics, Brady entered the Jesuit order with plans to become a Catholic priest. Though he left this path to pursue teaching and his wife, Mary Jo Commerford, Brady frequently described those years as formative to his approach to public service.
“My time there taught me to think carefully, act deliberately, and care about people who are struggling,” Brady wrote.
Brady, his wife and two daughters, Sarah and Maza, later spent nine years in Venezuela as Catholic missionaries, where Brady helped organize an ecology group that fought to protect irrigation springs from mining impacts in a farming community.
Wasco County Commissioner Phil Brady speaks at the Hood River City Council town hall April 23, as Councilors Ben Mitchell, Anna Cavaleri and Grant Polson listen.
Sean Avery / file photo
“What are we learning today?”
Friends and colleagues said that philosophy carried through much of Brady’s public work.
“He had a very inquisitive mind, and a very gentle soul. Put those two things together you get a curiosity about life, a curiosity about how things work and a constant sense of wonder,” said former The Dalles City Councilor Dan Spatz, a personal friend of Brady.
Before entering county government, Brady taught science for 18 years at The Dalles High School, The Dalles Middle School and NORCOR Juvenile Detention.
Commissioner Jeff Justesen, who previously managed NORCOR, shared one of his earliest memories of Brady during the county board meeting. Within Brady’s first week teaching at the facility, staff rushed to Justesen’s office to report that “the teacher is doing something” in the recreation yard.
“He’s starting a fire out in the rec area,” Justesen recalled staff telling him.
Rather than stop Brady, Justesen said he watched as Brady used live demonstrations to engage students in science lessons.
“That was Phil as a teacher,” Justesen said. “Really got people—the kids—interested in learning.”
“Every meeting we have, Phil would always come around to, ‘What are we learning today?’” Commission Chair Scott Hege said.
Wasco County Commissioner Jeff Justesen placed roses by Brady’s place during the May 20 meeting, the day after Brady’s death.
Rodger Nichols photo
A consensus builder
During his first term as commissioner, Brady advocated for healthcare access, homelessness services and investment in rural communities including Antelope and Maupin. As chair of the Mid-Columbia Housing Authority, he helped advance projects expected to add more than 200 affordable housing units in Hood River and The Dalles.
Close friend and fellow Adventist Health board member, Michelle Spatz, remembers Brady as a strong collaborator across political, racial and ideological lines.
“He really was a consensus builder, and he did that through his deep listening,” she said.
Brady frequently spoke in Spanish to connect with Latino residents, publicly addressing community distress over local ICE raids and pledging county support to impacted families.
At the Mid-Columbia Community Action Council where Brady served as board chair, Executive Director Leslie Naramore said the scale of the loss was still difficult to process.
“He was just an absolute pillar of our community,” she said. “He always just showed up as an advocate and someone who really wants to see our whole community succeed.”
Forthcoming details about a community celebration of life service for Phil Brady will be available through the Anderson Tribute Center. To leave a message of condolence for the family, go to www.AndersonsTributeCenter.com.
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