Dana Braden passed away peacefully on July 6th.

Dana was born in Kansas in 1950 and adopted by Dean Braden and Jessie Braden, a very loving and excited couple from the small town of Wakefield, Kansas. Not long after, they moved west to Richland where Dean Braden accepted a job as a chemical engineer at Hanford. They later moved to Kennewick where Dana graduated from Kennewick High in 1968. Dana was a talented basketball player and held records for pole vault and high jump. His senior yearbook quote was “Proud owner of a Chevy.” He later went to CBC. He married Katherine Bucklin in July of 1972. They were married for almost 50 years and spent their lives together in the Tri-Cities, sharing lots of laughs and tears and a love of music while raising their three children and a number of lovable family dogs. Dana most notably worked as a union-member carpenter, and later at Hanford for over 20 years. He was handy and crafty, loved cars, classic rock, taking care of his lawn, fishing, was an avid cycler for many years, and was good at wood-working. He was always there to help family with cars or sprinklers, or whatever else might need fixing.

He is survived by his wife Katherine Braden, his daughters Jenna Puckett and Jamey Braden, his son Dana Braden Jr., his sister Janis Braden, his grandsons Kwame Tate, Kynen Tate, and Kashon Tate, his great-grand-daughter Kylnn Tate, as well as a large extended family in the Tri-Cities and Kansas. He will be deeply missed.

A memorial will be held for Dana on Sunday, July 24th at 2:00pm at Einan’s Sunset Gardens Event Center, 915 Bypass Highway, Richland.

His death was unexpected. If there’s something you’ve been meaning to do, don’t wait too long, you never know what tomorrow may bring.