LeMars native Brian Majeres was known for helping others in his community.
“He would have given anyone the shirt off his back,” says his wife, Pat Majeres. “He was one of the kindest, most loving people.”
Brian was drafted in 1968 and served in the US Army until 1971, including a tour in Vietnam. He then spent two years in the US Army reserves.
“He was very quiet about his service, but he was very proud,” Pat says. “He got a Quilt of Valor last fall and was very proud of that, too.”
After his Army service, Brian returned to LeMars, and worked as a mechanic before opening Brian’s Auto Service, where he served customers for more than 40 years.
Although he and Pat were both from LeMars, they didn’t meet until 2002. Their marriage was the second for both, and though Brian never had any children, Pat says he treated his nieces and nephews and her sons and grandchildren as his own.
“We each had been married for 20 years and then alone for 10 years,” Pat says. “I moved back home to Iowa after my divorce and asked my mom and dad where I could get my car serviced. And my mom said, ‘you have to go to Brian’s Auto Service.’”
Pat says neither was looking to date, but “it just happened.”
“Our first date was spent fishing and that’s how we spent our honeymoon too,” Pat says.
Pat says Brian had retired in 2016, and they thought they would have more time together. But in August 2022 he was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer that spread to his lymph nodes.
“He always said he made it through Vietnam, and he was going to make it through this too,” Pat says. “He fought so hard. He was good through Christmas, but after that it was a winter from hell in Iowa, and he had bronchitis, and the cancer finally took him.”
Their twentieth anniversary would have been May 30, Pat says, but Brian died April 30, 2023.
Brian was not a registered eye, organ, and tissue donor. Pat says Brian didn’t think his eyes, organs and tissues would be usable, because he had cancer. He was not aware that, in most instances, cancer does not preclude cornea donation.
After Brian died, the funeral director told Pat that his corneas could probably be recovered.
“I spoke with his sisters and brothers and asked what I should do, and his youngest brother said, ‘Brian was always one to help others, and I think if this could help someone else, he would want to do this,’” Pat says.
“He was a special guy,” Pat adds. “I miss him terribly.”