Stephanie Brasher: Goodbye to A Good Friend

The Video Club mourns the passing of Stephanie Brasher, our longtime instructor and guide on all things Apple – inspiring us to make and enjoy video with iPhones, iPads, and Macs.

According to a message from her daughter, Jessica Brasher, “Stephanie Brasher passed away on Wednesday, September 27th, 2023 after her short but brave battle with glioblastoma. She left the world surrounded by family, her favorite music, and lots of warm memories of the people who touched her life. She was always someone who didn’t want people to fuss over her, so she didn’t wish for a service, but wanted to spread beauty and creativity in the world. She had said she would send monarch butterflies to remind us she’s still with us.”

Memorial Seed Packets

Jessica and her husband, Travis Eszlinger, are providing the Video Club with memorial packets of milkweed and wildflower seeds. “(They are) for anyone…who’d like to celebrate Stephanie and help spread more beauty into the world. It would mean a lot to her,” said Travis. (Monarch larvae eat only milkweeds.) 

Jessica and Travis brought a box of memorial seed packets to the October 19 “Shaping Our Vision” General Meeting, and Jessica spoke briefly to the crowd about what the Video Club meant to her mom. Travis and Jessica are shown below with the seed packets. Most were picked up that evening by members and friends wishing to honor Stephanie. If you would like to receive a memorial seed packet by mail, please email your name and address to Travis at travis_eszlinger90@yahoo.com.

An Unfinished Memorial Video

Stephanie’s family has also shared a memory with us. As Travis explained, “…for one of her classes, Stephanie did an example ‘In Memoriam’ video of herself for the class. She did a wonderful job, but unfortunately was never able to finish it. It is our honor to share this with Video Club in the hopes her friends and colleagues can utilize it to be a fitting remembrance of one of the sweetest and most innocent souls to grace our lives.”

The eulogy below was also provided by the family.

The Beautiful Life of Stephanie Jean Brasher
9/30/49 – 9/27/23

“Stephanie would retell stories of some of her time spent enjoying foggy days on the East Coast, but always truly was the embodiment of a sunny California day. Stephanie, much like the butterfly, floated through life letting her trust in the wind’s guidance help take her safely to her next destination.

“She spent years working at McDonnell Douglas, where she learned her love of connecting with people, as well time writing for the Laguna Beach Newspaper, sharing stories about nature and animals, later passing her love of animals along to her daughter with their shared love advocating for animal adoption.

“Stephanie fostered many dogs in her time but had the softest spot for those the most in need. Molly, the last dog she had, was found abandoned and tied to a pole giving birth in the heat of the desert. While the rescue worried about the tiny puppies, Stephanie’s heart and soul went toward teaching Molly to love and trust again, and Molly teaching her so much along the way, too. Molly stayed with her until the end of Molly’s life.

“Stephanie knew that she wanted to use her gift of creativity in all she did. Her daughter fondly remembers the many times she spent with her mom working on their home’s award-winning garden or scouring antique shops for the perfect item to complete a room.

“Later in life, however, her decisions to create beauty shifted outward

“Stephanie joined both the Mac and Video Clubs of Laguna Woods Village, first for her own information and education as she wanted to make memorial or celebratory videos for friends and family. What she found instead was a sense of community and purpose. Stephanie became impassioned with mastering the next iPhone update so that she could show her whole class how to use the next fun camera feature. She took pride in helping families preserve their old family videos by digitizing them for generations to come.

“Stephanie’s video creations and submissions were reflections on the person she was. Her final entry and first place entry, for instance, called ‘Everything Drips’ is a comical look at the downsides of aging while remembering to lighten up and as she wrote in her script, ‘If you’re not dead, you’re not done!’

“Stephanie’s impact lives on through the beauty and creativity that she spread. When asked, she said that she wanted to make her presence known as a butterfly- a symbol of both beauty but also change and rebirth. Please help finish out a last wish she had wanted to do and help spread seeds to spread beauty in her memory, and make the world a better place for the butterflies.”

The Video Club Owes Many Debts to Stephanie

Stephanie originated our quarterly Short Film Showcase programs, curated many of the shows herself, and trained others to curate them. The first SFS was held with resounding success on April 1, 2019 – and the presentation coming up on Monday, December 4 will be Number 27, prepared by our newest SFS curator, Joe Brown! During the pandemic, Short Film Showcase programs were moved to Zoom and for a time were held monthly rather than quarterly to provide cohesion for the club, with in-person meetings prohibited.

Stephanie originated the name “Goldies” for our annual Short Video Contest. As reported in website coverage of the February 16, 2019 awards banquet: “While others may have their Oscars, Emmys, and Grammys, Video Club awards will henceforth be known as ‘Goldies,’ following President Steve Carman’s special contest to name our statuette. From a range of monikers proposed, the Video Club Board of Directors chose Stephanie Brasher’s suggestion, ‘Goldie,’ to honor both the Golden Rain Foundations (which provides our facilities and most of our equipment) and our club members. As Steve put it, ‘We’re all Golden Oldies!’”

Stephanie originated many Video Club classes, greatly strengthening our offerings for Apple-product-users. These included “Getting Better Video with Your iPhone and iPad,” “iMovie for iPhone and iPad,” “Create A Slideshow on Your Mac,” and more. She served all of the club’s videographers with her innovative class on “Finding Resources for Your Video Project.”

With Dr. Tom Nash, Stephanie developed a two-session class on techniques to “Elevate Your Videos,” offered in October, 2022. Together they also originated a series of “Shooting Expeditions.” The first, held December 12, 2022 drew a dozen participants and was so successful that during the spring of 2023, “Shooting Expeditions” were scheduled every other month.

For several years, Stephanie facilitated the club’s monthly Apple Forum for users of iPhones, iPads, and Mac computers, where participants were encouraged to share their work and seek advice on current projects. Each session highlighted an Apple feature and answered questions about Apple devices and video applications (iMovie, Clips, Keynote).

Stephanie managed the Video Lab’s Mac computers and contributed to the current Lab computer arrangement – which places rows of Macs on the left side of the room and and rows of PCs on the right. She helped the club obtain a large-screen TV for the Video Studio from the Mac Club, where she was also a supervisor.

Finally, Stephanie was a passionate videographer, often taking top honors in our annual contests and inspiring many other members to create videos and enter them in competition. Her first win was “Best of Show” in 2020 with “Abraham, Martin & John,” a musical tribute to fallen heroes. In 2021, she again took first place with “The Brig Pilgrim,” a eulogy to the Dana Point Ocean Institute’s tall ship which sank while anchored in harbor in March, 2020. In 2023, Stephanie’s humorous-yet-serious look at old age, “Everything Drips,” won first place. To demonstrate the capabilities of smartphone videography, she had shot the entire video on her iPhone, even using on-camera sound.