JAMES BRYGGER

James (Jim) Allen Brygger, 85, of Neenah, Wisconsin, passed away September 8, 2024, with his son David Karl Brygger by his side. 

Born October 28, 1938, in Racine, Wisconsin, to Harold E. Brygger and Margaret Elizabeth (Schobert) Brygger.

Jim graduated from Horlick High School in Racine in 1958 and from the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire in 1962 with a degree in Business Management. He put himself through college working for the Chicago, Duluth & Georgian Bay Transit Company on their Great Lakes cruise ships. He enlisted in the Army after graduating and served in Frankfurt, Germany as a Chaplain's Assistant until 1964. 

Jim worked in Racine and Minneapolis for several years before moving to Nebraska, where he rediscovered his love of architecture and graduated with a Master of Architecture from the University Nebraska-Lincoln in the late 1970s. He also met the love of his life, Gayle Chatfield, and together with their son David they moved to Neenah, Wisconsin in 1991.

As an architect, he focused on giving new life to old buildings. Over the course of his life he remodeled many residences, a hotel, and the 1890 Barr Terrace row house in Lincoln, Nebraska, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. As his many notebooks attest, Jim continued to think about furniture, design and remodeling projects to his last weeks. His own home was always evolving, and is itself a work of art.

Well into his 80s, Jim went on mission trips to struggling communities, using his building expertise to help create habitable spaces. He volunteered regularly in soup kitchens from 1982 to the present. 

Highlights of recent years include a trip to Japan to deliver 1,000 origami cranes that Jim and local students had folded. A high point of this summer, when he was no longer able to bike on his own, was riding in a rickshaw surrounded by a convoy of neighbors, caregivers and family members to picnic in Neenah's Kimberly Point Park. 

Jim had many friends, and he took deep pleasure in a lot of things: biking, travel, reading, art, classical music, conversations, and good design in anything from a chair to a tie to a coffee cup. Jim, along with his rescue cat JW, stole the hearts of visitors, caregivers and hospice workers. Even as the physical activities he enjoyed declined, he took great pleasure in what remained: spending time with his son, pastries with a cup of coffee, freshly cut flowers, and friends stopping by. 

Jim was a member of First Congregational United Church of Christ, Appleton, Wisconsin.   

He is survived by his son David Brygger; by his former wife Gayle Chatfield, mother of David; previous wife Mary Pat; and brother Dave Sorensen.

Preceding Jim in death are parents, Harold Edward Brygger and Margaret Elizabeth (Schobert) Brygger, and brother William Karl Brygger.  

A celebration of his life will be held on Saturday October 26th between 12 and 4 pm in his home at 1042 Pembrook Drive Neenah WI 54956