Born: May 8, 1973

Died: January 25, 2002

Pledge name:

Boromir of Minas Tirith

Big Brother:

Derek Rivard (93)

Activated

Spring 1991

Class Year:

1994

About me	Details	Memorium

Details about Andy

Survived by:

Amanda (Miltenberger) Shepard (wife)

Chuck and Carol Bright (parents)

The transcript of the memorialization Andy's father, Chuck, gave at the service that was held in Wausau. It was, perhaps, the most touching and moving part of the service.

"Some of you here did not know Andy and some of you may know Andy better than you know me. However, if you know me, for better or worse, you know more than a little about Andy, and if you know Andy you know more than a little about me. Amanda told me that she didn't really understand why Andy was who he was until she met me.
    When Andy didn't know if he would live long enough to get a transplant, he said that if he didn't make it he wanted people to remember the good times. So here are some good times Carol and I want you to know about Andy.
    His first message to the world was delivered by nausea to his mother that Pepto Bismol would not cure. To announce his coming birth when we went to visit family, Carol wore a tee shirt with BABY written on the front and a big arrow pointing to her tummy.
    He was born May 8, 1973, in spite of his best efforts to remain with his mother. I was very proud of my beautiful boy.
    When he was a year old he had a large vocabulary. Carol, being a proud mother, asked the doctor if this meant that he was very smart. The doctor said it was just because he spent a lot of time around someone who talked a lot -- and that wasn't me!
    When he was a pre-schooler, Andy accepted Jesus as his personal Savior. At age 8 after hearing a message by Bruce Huseby, he confirmed this commitment and professed it to his Pastor.
    Andy loved his Grampas very much and spent as much time with them as living 400 to 500 miles away would allow. One summer when he was little, he was with his Grampa Bright in an RV park where they had to get their mail at the park office. As they were walking to get the mail his Grampa said if they didn't get any mail they would have to fire the mailman. The next day on the trip for the mail Andy said if they didn't get any mail they would have to burn the mailman.
    His Grampa Van Laan taught him how to play chess. Whenever they were together this was a favorite pastime. During his junior year in high school Andy flew alone to Michigan to spend his entire spring break with his Grampa Van Laan who was paralyzed by a stroke.
    In a high school biology class he took the unpopular position of defending creation vs. evolution at the risk of getting a poor grade. He presented his case so well that his teacher, who took the opposite position, gave him a good grade.
    Andy had a newspaper delivery route during his high school years. He took time to talk with his customers and even did odd jobs for them. One year he and Tim pooled their paper route money and bought their first computer - a Commodore 64. Because of his excellent record as a paper carrier, he was awarded a college scholarship by the newspaper. Years after he quit his route, I had business dealings with one of his customers. When I told the man my name, he asked if I knew Andy Bright. When I told him that Andy was my son, he said that Andy was the best paper boy he ever had.
    Andy always loved to read. Before he could read he wanted to be read to. Much of this was done by Carol, but I will always treasure the time he spent on my lap while I read to him The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. That's where his obsession with Lord of the Rings probably started. Andy read just about anything he could lay his hands on. He spent a lot of time reading his Bible and memorized several books of the Bible.
    Andy loved to swim. He was proud when he could swim well enough to earn the right to swim out to the raft at Crescent Lake Bible Camp. Later he was a Red Cross Certified Life Guard and worked as a life guard at Crescent Lake and the Wausau City Pools. When he was in high school he and a friend rescued a boy from the flooded Wisconsin River at Oak Island.
    Andy loved Crescent Lake Bible Camp. He attended youth and family camp whenever possible, and worked summers as a kitchen helper, life guard, and counselor. One year he donated a scholarship he earned through the Sunday School Bible memorization program to the camp to buy picnic tables.
    In spite of what the Dr. told Carol, Andy was very smart. In 1990 he was in the top 5% of all students tested for the National Merit Scholarship. He scored 32 out of 36 in the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Andy did not graduate from college, but because of his avid reading he was knowledgeable in many subjects. If you chose to cross verbal swords with Andy, you had to be sure you had all your "ducks in a row", or he would tear your argument to pieces.
    Andy was one who loved others deeply. Even in the later years when he developed a growly-bear exterior, his tender heart did not change. He loved Amanda very much. He told me that it was their love that gave him the will to fight his illness.
    While Andy and Amanda were engaged they gave me this loud tie (bright yellow, with "I love Dad" in child drawings on it) for Father's Day. I told him I was going to wear it on his wedding day. I did and I have pictures to prove it. Andy thought it was great.
    I could go on all day telling you about my beautiful boy, but I will end with one last story. When Andy was almost 3, we flew to visit his Grampa and Grandma Bright in Florida. When they met us at the airport, Andy looked up at his Grampa and said, "You're here and I'm here," as if being with his Grampa was the most important part of the trip. On January 25, when we had to say goodby to Andy as he stepped through Heaven's Gate, he had the opportunity to again say to his Grampa, "You're here and I'm here."

About me	Details	Memorium

Statements in Memory of Andy

Andy's widow, Amanda, writes:

"Many of you knew Andy very well and, in some cases, much longer than I did. So, you will know that there were really two Andys. On the outside he was gruff and opinionated and intolerant. He believed in speaking loudly AND carrying a big stick. You could always count on him to tell the truth - whether you liked it or not.
    But that outer facade was just that - a mask assumed for his own protection. His theory was that anybody who couldn't take it wasn't worth it in the first place. It's a harsh way to people, but he managed to find some amazing friends along the way who were willing to put with it for the privilege of seeing the real Andy. And it was a privilege for me. He never wanted me to tell anybody that he used this smoke screen knowingly. He said it would ruin the point if they knew. But I think he underestimated his friends if he thought they really didn't know already.
    The other Andy, the one that only a few of us ever got to see, was different. Yes, he still always spoke the truth. And he was still opinionated. But he was also compassionate sincere and loyal. He loved to have long conversations to work ideas out. He would play devil's advocate to help his friends work things out, even if he already agreed with their viewpoint. He loved to read, and to learn new things. And he loved discussing books he had read and concepts he had learned. He loved to laugh, and to make other people laugh, too. He loved music, both to listen to it and to sing. He was a gamer, and he knew his games very well. He preferred White Wolf, of course. He once said to me, "My preferred game is Monster: The Abstract Noun." If you get that, he'd be happy. He was enormously creative in making characters and histories, and coming up with alternate ideas when he was displeased with where the game had gone. He loved the fantasy aspect as much as anything. Toward the end of his life, Andy started painting miniatures. He turned out to be very talented, and had been hired to paint for the owner of a gaming shop in Milwaukee.
    Although Andy could not work or even go to school for the last six years of his life, he always managed to keep himself busy. He experienced an ethical dilemma in accepting government money to keep himself alive, and would gladly have worked if he could. Aside from the gaming and miniature painting, he worked on numerous projects with his friends: new book ideas for White Wolf, redesigning beloved video games, working with me to adapt one of our favorite novels into a screenplay. He was full of ideas and enthusiasm for these projects.
    As I have worked on writing this, I've come to realize that I will never be able to encapsulate Andy's life in words, even if I wrote a whole novel. And I will also never have ability to write or talk about him really objectively. So I know I've left out a million things I want to say about him. He taught me a lot of things in our years together. He was one of the smartest people I have ever known, and certainly one of the bravest. He fought very hard to live every day. He never felt sorry for himself or expected anyone else to do so. He took care of me. I know that I am not the only one who will miss him this much. George Johnson said he was not looking forward to "Andy-sized holes" when he returned from Korea. Yes, George, they are everywhere. I've said it before but it's so true: Andy was blessed in his life to have had his family and friends. He got a chance to see how much he was loved before he died, which is not something everyone can say. And because I shared my life with him I got to find out, too. So, thank you to everyone who loved him and everyone who loves me. I know that he loved you all very much. Jen Hoffman said once that if Andy loved you, it was forever. That's so true. I was blessed to be one of the many people that Andy loved. Please use this space to talk about good memories of Andy, that's what he wanted us to focus on"

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A memorial paddle made in honor of Andy, housed at Tau.

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George Johnson (00) remembers Andy

"Andy was an odd and sometimes contradictory man. But he was one of the most loyal people I have ever met and while he was never afraid to disagree with you, he never held that difference against you. Lord knows I am proof of that. Andy and I were forever arguing, and I wish more than anything Andy and I could get purple faced angry with each other. A study in opposites, Andy with his red face and beard making him look like an irritated Viking Warrior and me, short skinny kid with the crew cut. In any case, it stays with me.
    I read books that he recommended and think about what I would want to say to him about it. Think of a new angle in our many arguments. Or think about ideas we had batted around for stories that were ours alone.
    There exists the Andy sized holes in my life."

Alexia Natkin (01) remembers Andy

"Andy was a good man, and I will miss him. I was lucky enough to call him a friend, and more so lucky to be called a friend by him.
    He was gruff, and sometimes spoke his mind in a very blatant and slightly rude way, but that was his charm and he was truthful in what he said.
    He was a good man, and I am sad to see him go. Yes it may have been his time, but that doesn't mean I cannot be unhappy, angry, depressed, or just plain stunned silent. (You would have liked to see that, wouldn't you Andy?)
    No matter what some may say he deserved every chance he got, and more.. but most he deserved respect and love then, now, and in the future. The only thing I can say is: the worst thing we can do is forget him, and any other loved one we hold in our hearts after they begin the journey into the great beyond. For then they are truly gone.
    Andy I may not have known everything about you, but I knew you were a friend, true and through. I will miss you. You managed to get a few laughs in at the end, making people run that never would, getting people to drink who normally would not... and, if nothing else, bringing people together again that have not been together in a while.
    Why is it the brightest and hottest stars burn the shortest? Why did yours have to be so bright?
    When I - and others- look up in the sky, know we will miss you on those nights.
    And more."

Pete Lenz (89) remembers Andy

"I really don't know what to say about Andy. I loved the man, he was a brother. One thing that always reminds me of him is listening to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. It was something all the Taus loved, but every time it was on, I can remember seeing Andy, arm in arm with his friends and loved ones swaying and singing. It brought tears to my eyes to circle dance to that song without him the night of the dual-wake in Ripon and West Bend. Since that night, I know that Bohemian Rhapsody and the other song that was played, I Touch Myself by the Divinyls, are songs that will always bring him to our thoughts. So, to honour him and to help us keep as remembrances of him, I have taken the (illegal) liberty of putting an MP3 here (at the top of the page). Play it and remember one of our dear departed friends."

From the Spring 2002 Ripon College Magazine

"Andrew M. Bright '95 of West Bend, WI, died January 25. While at Ripon he was a member of Theta Sigma Tau. Survivors include his wife, Amanda Miltenberger Bright '00, his parents and one brother."

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Information about Andy's life has been collected from

• His wife, Amanda (Miltenberger) Shepard
• His father, Chuck Bright
• His friends

About me	Details	Memorium