Thelma Faye Diamond (Brahinsky) Bray, 95, died Monday, Jan. 4, 2021, at her home in Columbia, Missouri. Born in Toledo, Ohio, Thelma lived over 50 years in the Kansas City area. She also lived in St. Joseph, Missouri, Muskogee, Oklahoma, and Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Thelma met her husband, Herbert (Brahinsky) Bray in Toledo during World War II on the High Holy Days when she invited a group of soldiers attending synagogue to her family’s restaurant and beer garden, Bellman’s. They were married May 19, 1946, at her home in Toledo.
Thelma was an avid reader, artist and swimmer. She cherished the dear friendships she made at the Jewish Community Center where she swam, at Hadassah and at the Jewish War Veterans. But what Thelma loved the best was entertaining friends and family in her home. For holidays, real and invented, Thelma would bake and cook fabulous meals; her parties were a joy for her and everyone else. She was an expert mandel baker and could fry up a chicken that could rival any TV chef.
Thelma was preceded in death by her husband Herbert Bray. She is survived by her son Michael Bray of Phoenix and her daughter Judith Brahinsky of Columbia and Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania; her grandchildren, Ashley (Bray) Heihn (Josh), Hayley (Chapnick) Ornstein (Randy), Errol Chapnick (Amy Griffith) and Marcus Chapnick (Myisha); and three great-grandchildren, Kingston, Reed and Ila.
Memorial contributions may be made to the National Foundation for Disabled Americans or The Multiple Sclerosis Society.
