James Peter Bracken

James Peter Bracken Jr., formerly of North Andover, MA, succumbed to life’s journey, in Lake Wylie, SC with his family, on 17 April 2025, the year of his Lord.

Born on 9 December 1941, he battled his whole life for beauty and truth, for what he knew was right and against the tyranny of what he knew in his heart to be wrong, for the serenity he believed to be the pillar of this world. It was a battle well fought with his immense tenacity and support from all those who walked alongside him.

He is survived by his adoring wife, Cathi Bracken, his grateful children, James Bracken and his wife Cassie, Timothy Sean Bracken, Taylor Bracken and his wife Kyla, Scot Butcher and his wife Gail, a brother John Bracken and numerous nieces and nephews, his beautiful grandchildren, Kieran and Alexander (Xander) Bracken, Ali and Emily Butcher, Adelaide, Lorelei, and Ivy Leary.

Known to his friends as Jim, to his brothers as “Snappah” and his sisters and parents as “Petah”, he grew up in the Newton area of Massachusetts and spent summers on the Cape overwhelming people with his chasm of charm that rivaled John Cougar and Clapton. He had deep seeded love and knowledge as an audiophile and worked with a myriad of great musicians from the likes of Chicago to Orpheus. A lover of Celtic music from Enya to The Dropkick Murphys. A man that could tell you all about the movements of the classical composers, Beethoven and Chopin and Mozart. A musicologist, sharing his knowledge while either watching Fantasia with his kids or listening to the Moody Blues lakeside with friends and family.

Watching classic movies was a past time. Casablanca. Westerns. Hitchcock. He loved elegant spy-craft in the tune of James Bond or even the modern Jason Bourne. But nothing entertained him more than reading about the history of the world: the evolution of humankind and societies, the rises and falls, the life and times.

He was a man of history and learning.

A spiritual man, accepting of many faiths, but a man devoted to one faith. He would shake hands with the Buddha and thank him for his guidance to peace and nirvana. He would genuflect to the cross of a bleeding Jesus or a tearing black Madonna and pray to every bead on the rosary. A human being who pursued a path to ease and bring comfort to a world that was troubled with chaos and doubt. His faith was solitary, unbreakable, infallible. There was only one justice in the world and that was to do well unto others, and they shall receive the same – Sincerity.

He found serenity in the world around him. An avid green thumb, he loved gardening and tending to the earth, enjoying the fruits of his labor while sharing with everyone he could. He loved to paint the things he’d seen and to capture the beauty found around him.

Jim was a purist as a fan of sports. A passionate golfer and reflective follower of the Masters, whom he mirrored so much he played left-handed. A zealot for local Boston teams. Celtics. Red Sox. Bruins. Patriots. Everything Harvard.

He was never fair-weather about anything in his life and that included his fondness for hometown pride and his determination to see everyone around him succeed and find happiness in their life, always with bright eyes and a wide smile. Through the calm seas and treacherous storms. No loved one was left behind for the man with the mustache that never quit.

He fought battles he never wanted because of his devotion and piety to creating a better, safer and more beautiful world than the one he was born into. Overseas and domestic, he was a war hero for everyone he loved and endeared to him and for those he had never met. But his greatest battle was for his family. Never wavering always in pursuit of happiness.

His family was more than just those born to him. Still waters ran deep but his love ran deeper. There was nothing he would not do for his family. There was no gray area. It was all or nothing and he did not accept a nothing scenario. A man will not suffer twice, in this circumstance and in reminiscence.

It might have been a cancer that people will say brought him to his last days, but it was his determination as a human being to fight and never go quietly into that good night. One last egregious battle to the end. A man of Myth. A man of Legend. A man of Lore. He lived. He lost. And he loved. He left us with passion to the end.

Memorial services to be determined by the family at a future date.