This obituary of a former Grace Brethren Church musician appears in today’s Toledo (OH) Blade newspaper:
FINDLAY, OH – Betty Brauneller, a member of the Jericho Road gospel quartet who organized and promoted artists at the Lighthouse here as well as the Hancock County Fair, died Tuesday in Blanchard Valley Regional Health Center of complications of a kidney tumor. She was 62.
Mrs. Brauneller, a woman of strong religious beliefs, found music to be a way to share her faith.
“We are for one purpose only,” her husband, Russ, said. “That’s to get the message to the people.”
The Braunellers founded Jericho Road in 1998. It has since grown to a quartet.
The group has traveled all over Ohio and surrounding states, performing more than 150 times a year, including monthly concerts at the Lighthouse and in the gospel pavilion during the Hancock County Fair, her daughter Vicki Orwick said.
They released their first recording in July, 1998, and plan to release their fourth this summer.
About six years ago, the Braunellers decided to help with the Hancock Gospel Pavilion at the county fair because they saw an opportunity for its growth.
“We decided to extend our ministry to helping out with this,” Mr. Brauneller said.
As president of the pavilion, Mrs. Brauneller helped bring in gospel groups from all over the country. “We have to turn groups away,” he said.
For the last five years, Mrs. Brauneller has arranged monthly gospel nights at the Lighthouse, bringing in four groups to perform for an audience of 200 on the third Saturday of every month.
She also was involved with the Buckeye State Gospel Music Association, the Northwest Ohio Gospel Music Association, and the Country Gospel Music Association of America.
At various times, she led a women’s trio at her church, directed the choir, and played the organ for Grace Brethren Church in Bowling Green, her daughter said.