THOMAS EARL BRINKER July 18, 1962 – July 20, 2018
The gold standard dad
Thomas Earl Brinker was a fundamentally happy guy who saw the best in everyone around him. He had the kind of magnetism that immediately put people at ease and lifted everybody’s spirits when he walked into a room.
Thomas was born in Vardaman, Mississippi. His family moved to Springfield when he was a small child to find a better life outside the Jim Crow South. Thomas graduated from Springfield High School in 1980, where he played basketball his freshman and sophomore years.
Not long after he graduated, Thomas met Janet Elbert, the baby sister of his good friend Kurtez Rhodes. She caught Thomas’s eye immediately, but Janet didn’t have any romantic feelings for him to start. Still, they spent a lot of time together. Kurtez worked nights, and Thomas would step in to take Janet places when she needed a ride or an escort. When Kurtez moved to St. Louis, he asked Thomas to watch out for his sister.
Never content to settle just for the “friend zone,” Thomas finally succeeded in marrying the woman of his dreams on Oct. 18, 1986. For the next 30 years, he and Janet were each other’s backbone. They went everywhere together, understood each other deeply, and finished each other’s sentences. Everyone in Thomas’s life knew that Janet was his queen.
Janet was the one who led Thomas on a journey to a deeper faith. With her, he evolved from someone who wasn’t especially spiritual to someone who lived his life in service of the Lord and gave glory to God in every circumstance. At the Abundant Faith Christian Center, he was active in the media ministry, recording sermons for later broadcast.
With Janet, Thomas became the father of three children: Cherrelle, Charnelle and Brandon. He was a doting father whose daughters had him wrapped around their little fingers. To his son, Thomas was a hands-on dad who did “guy stuff” like teach him how to play basketball. A huge Lakers fan, Thomas admired Magic Johnson and loved watching the NBA with his family.
Thomas learned a lot about cars from his father, and he passed that knowledge on to his son. He always had a Kelly’s Blue Book laying around and could identify scores of makes and models, and he taught Brandon how to change oil and install speakers and do basic maintenance.
One memory of working on cars with his dad particularly sticks out in Brandon’s mind. When he was around seven years old, he was sitting in the family’s Buick as Thomas worked on it. Inside, Brandon found a pack of matches, and, being a young boy, started playing with them. After several unsuccessful attempts, he finally ignited a match, only to find himself being pulled out of the car and swiftly carried all the way to their second-floor apartment. Although his little foray into fire resulted in the temporary loss of a toy, Brandon nonetheless cherishes this memory as an example of the fierce love and protectiveness that his father displayed towards him.
All three of Thomas’s children saw him as the gold standard by which other dads were measured. To Brandon, especially, Thomas was a shining example of what it meant to be a man – strong, loyal, patient and forgiving.
“Growing up, I would measure and compare everyone else’s dad to my dad,” said daughter Charnelle. “And, no matter how much I tried to adjust the numbers, everybody else’s dad always came up short.”
“My dad taught me to hold my own, stick to my guns, don’t sway to other people’s opinions, and never give up on my dreams,” Brandon said. “He taught me about not being lazy – told me I gotta make things happen for myself, and to never give up.” Throughout his life, his father was behind him 100 percent, smoothing the way when things get rough, and always offering encouragement and a positive outlook.
Later in life, Thomas was blessed with six grandchildren whom he enjoyed tremendously. Having them almost made him feel like a dad all over again as they crawled all over him and wrestled with him. He always had a smile on his face when they were around.
Thomas took good care of his health, eating well and exercising often. It came as a shock to his family when he was struck by a seizure that led to the diagnosis of a brain tumor. Thomas faced his final illness with courage and grace, steadfast in his faith in God and determined to stay strong for his family.
Today, his family thinks of him whenever the Lakers are playing or when they hear a George Clinton or James Brown song, and they live by the example of faith and strength that he set for them.
“There will never be another man like him,” said Brandon.
Erika Holst works at the Illinois State Museum with Brandon Brinker, of whom his father was justifiably proud.