MacQUEEN, Brian 1957 - 2021
MACQUEEN, BACH, HAMILTON, HARTMAN
Posted By: Joey Stark
Date: 6/26/2021 at 15:39:12
"Southeast Iowa Union / Fairfield Ledger"
Friday, March 5, 2021
Page 6BRIAN MacQUEEN
FairfieldBrian MacQUEEN passed suddenly this week at Mercy Hospital in Iowa City surrounded by his family and friends (note: on March 1st, in Johnson Co., IA). It was a peaceful, graceful departure in keeping with Brian's beautiful heart and deep spiritual confidence in the Life Eternal. He was 63 years old.
Brian was the youngest of six children of Dr. JC MacQUEEN and Gertrude MacQUEEN, both longtime residents of Iowa City. He grew up in Iowa City graduating from West High School as class president in 1975, and then graduated from the University of Iowa in Theatre in 1980. Brian worked for the Transcendental Meditation movement in Washington, D.C. with his wife Kristel BACH who he married in 1982. They later divorced. For years, on his own time Brian wrote, directed, produced, and engineered a number of radio plays that were featured on National Public Radio playhouse as well as his charming children's radio show "Chip the Squirrel" written for his beloved nephew Will. For this work at NPR, Brian received an International Award for Radio Theatre, an achievement he was understandably very proud of.
Brian also trained as a paramedic and served in that capacity for some years before being accepted to the Yale School of Drama, where he graduated with an MFA in Technical Design in 2000.
Brian worked in a number of prominent theatre houses around the country as head sound designer and teacher until he returned to teach at Yale for a few years. After Yale he went to South Korea to teach at Dongguk University in Seoul. He was an outstanding teacher and deeply loved by his students for his passionate interest in the development of their artistic skills. He taught from a level of enthusiasm and encouragement.
In 2009, Brian generously returned to Iowa City to help care for his aging parents until their deaths and then moved to Fairfield, Iowa, where he became Technical Director at the Sondheim Center. He then began a journey of cycles of poor health from which he would miraculously recover, determined to carry on with his life and work much to the amazement of his family and friends. The last few years of his life were filled by his theatre work at the Walton Performing Arts Facility in Fayetteville, Ark., and the Coralville Arts Center, caregiving jobs in Fairfield, and his deep participation in the life of his family. He had just been rehired at the Sondheim Center when he became ill for the last time.
Endowed with great humor, a brilliant mind and creative genius, Brian was always a standout personality and we will miss him in all the large and small ways he touched us. Brian loved kayaking, biking, reading (especially Shakespeare) and celebrations of all kinds. He was a tender-hearted person who always sought to protect the feelings of others and lived deeply from his spiritual life that was a more private miracle that shown (sic) on those of us near him.
Brian leaves a bereaved family: Jennifer (Doug) HAMILTON of Fairfield, Debra (Stephen) MacQUEEN of Kneeland California, John (Nancy) MacQUEEN of Palm Springs, California, Susan MacQUEEN of Davenport Iowa. Nephews/nieces: Will (Lizzy) HAMILTON of Fairfield, Mila HAMILTON of Minneapolis, MN, Dr John (Lori) HARTMAN of Bettendorf, IA, and Gabriel (Reiko) HARTMAN of Davenport, IA and six great-nieces/nephews.
He was preceded in death by his oldest sister, Candace MacQUEEN and his parents.
Donations in Brian's name can be made to the Fairfield Arts and Convention Center in Fairfield, Iowa.
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"Southeast Iowa Union / Fairfield Ledger"
Wednesday, June 16, 2021
Front Page and Page 2Fairfield arts center dedicates tree to ex-employee
By Andy Hallman, Southeast Iowa UnionFAIRFIELD -- The staff at the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center has planted a tree outside the building to commemorate their colleague Brian MacQUEEN, who died earlier this year.
At the base of the tree is a stone monument dedicated to MacQUEEN that reads "Your light shines upon us and is always in our hearts -- In Loving Memory -- Brian MacQUEEN 1957-2021." On Friday, friends and family gathered to dedicate the tree, a prairie fire crabapple.
MacQUEEN was the arts center's technical director from 2014-2018, and had just rejoined the staff in February of this year. But just a few weeks after MacQUEEN began working at the arts center, he suffered a sudden pulmonary embolism and died March 1.
MacQUEEN's sister Jennifer HAMILTON said Friday's ceremony was a fitting way to remember her brother and his commitment to the arts.
"It was lovely, and I'm very grateful to the FACC for making this happen," HAMILTON said.
His family established a memorial hoping to raise $10,000 toward sound equipment that can be used both indoors and out. Fairfield Arts & Convention Center Executive Director Lindsay Bauer announced that the arts center had reached that goal and had already purchased the equipment. In fact, the arts center used the speakers and amplifiers it purchased from the fund for the June 2 Summer Sun outdoor concert featuring Bo Ramsey.
The arts center will be relying on the new equipment all summer long as the Summer Sun series returns Wednesday at 7 p.m. with an outdoor concert featuring Baraka Trio. The remaining dates of the outdoor concert series and the featured performers are June 30 (Kevin Burt), July 14 (The Boys), July 28 (Awful Purdies) and Aug. 11 (Nicholas Naioti). After the outdoor concert series, the equipment will be used for events in the Stephen Sondheim Center for the Performing Arts.
Norma VanCamp has worked at the arts center for six years and is now its facilities manager.
"Brian and I were the only ones left from the old group," she said. "When he sent his resume in again, I was more than happy to offer him any type of work here. Brian was a really good theatrical guy who always had a smile on his face."
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*Transcribed for genealogy purposes; I have no relation to the person(s) mentioned.Photo of the tree dedication, part of the second article:
http://iagenweb.org/jefferson/General_Interest/2021/MacQueenGroup.jpgPhoto of the memorial stone, also from the second article:
http://iagenweb.org/jefferson/General_Interest/2021/MacQueenStone.jpg
Jefferson Obituaries maintained by Joey Stark.
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