I feel so fortunate to have gotten to spend some quality time with cousin Dan, especially over the past few years. Some work took me to Wisconsin a couple of years ago, and I visited Dan and Laura and Sam. The Wisconsin State Fair was happening then. It was so nice spending the day with Dan doing some of the things he loved so much - eating good food, drinking good beer, listening to good music. Local bands covered classic rock and Grateful Dead tunes, Dan took pride in calling out who they were covering. Fried cheese products were involved. Laura was so happy she didn’t have to go. The next day we floated around in the lake, Laura and Sam came down to the beach and we cooked Brats as the sun set. Dan told me we gotta enjoy the days we have.

On one of his recent trips to California, a friend who races had an extra spot on his boat. Dan’s health was failing then, and I was a little nervous about him going out in windy San Francisco Bay. But he’d never sailed on the bay and I knew it would mean a lot to him. Indeed they hit a gust when heeling hard over with Dan on the high side. He dropped straight into the bay. Fortunately the guys were quick and dragged him right out. Later they told me Dan had the biggest grin on his face, laughing the whole time. The picture above, with Dan in that yellow (inflated) PFD, is from that trip.

I’ll miss you big guy, rest in peace.

Dear Laura and family,

We were so sad to hear through the tennis community of Dan's passing, and we send you our heartfelt condolences.  We had SO much fun on the tennis court with you both!  (Carrie thinks she may still have marks on her back where she got drilled with a couple of Dan's wilder serves-- okay,  just kidding, the marks are long gone but the good memories are not).  Take good care.

From Carrie Lewis and Terence Hampson

Dan had been part of the Browning Clan practically my whole life, and his absence will be felt deeply.

Dan and Laura were the stars at their wedding of course, but being a Junior Bridesmaid was a big deal to me. I still remember sitting next to his sister Donna and tinkling our water glasses to prompt the newlyweds to kiss. Fast forward a couple of decades and Dan was tinkling his water glass and cutting up the dance floor at my wedding in France - he was never one to miss a good party and he brought the fun!

From my teen years through my kids' teen years, we've had so many good visits. I spent summer weeks with Dan and Laura in that charming blue house on the corner in Waukesha, playing with Sam and Annelise when they were babies. Dan picked me at Shannon Airport for my first very impromptu solo visit to Europe. I can only imagine, in retrospect, how he must have felt to hear that his college aged sister-in-law was already on a plane to visit for three weeks! Such is the life of a Browning Outlaw. He was such a gracious host.

More recently, Dan snd Laura's visits out West have given my kids a sense of extended family. My memories of the weekend at Dan's Uncle Gordon's house in Sonoma are suffused with that magical golden California light. Another time, just before the pandemic, we all sat around a fire pit at a sweet little cottage at Lake Tahoe, laughing and talking late into the night. Just last winter we met up during a snow storm at Heavenly Ski Resort in South Lake Tahoe and watched a football game at their hotel. We brought our mini Aussie, Paris, normally very nervous around new people, but she took to Dan right away. We sent my teenage son out for ice-cream and brought back a pint of Ben and Jerry's for each person. Dan laughed his big, deep laugh, then went for the bowls and spoons to serve it up. 

Dan was a certain kind of skier. He was on the first lift of the morning, sandwich in his pocket, and he packed in as many intense ski runs as possible until the last chair. Then he enjoyed a cold beer and a hearty meal. That's the way he lived these last few years: squeezing so much life, travel, adventure, and laughter out of every opportunity. 

We will miss him terribly. 

• Dan was not just a part of our family we were lucky to become a part of his.  Living in Elgin in 2000s, I heard stories of him as a high schooler riding his bike to Elgin from Roselle for dentist appointments. I would run into his parents, big Dan and Dottie, on the commuter train. They came out to our house for birthdays and baptisms.  Dottie would bring a home baked pie.  Road tripping Out West I dropped in and bunked down with Dan's uncle Ray and aunt Kathy on the family farm in Nebraska during the harvest of 1995. "No pictures.  Gotta combine beans!".  When we moved to St. Louis it turned out Dan had spent time in our small town of Columbia IL as a boy when his grandfather was pastor at St Paul's Lutheran.  And later I learned that I had lived in South Dakota just twenty miles north of the church that same grandfather had taken on as a mission vocation in his retirement years.  Everywhere it seems there is a Hildebrandt. His family, like Dan, are warm and always welcoming.  Hard to think him gone.  I half expect to see  him bounding in the room just now. Tennis racket in hand.  Booming voice. Big smile. Looking to go somewhere. Do something. Always on the move. 

I'll always remember the conversations that Dan and I had concerning sports, mostly about the NFL and how the Bears and Packers were always doing well, and how the Lions were always doing very badly.  I'll very much miss those conversations!

I was also always in awe of how Dan could sail around Lake Michigan, would is something that I could never do, given that I can't even pilot a speed boat.

Dan will always be missed! 

Laura,

Dan loved sports and I enjoyed going to a Cubs game with him in July 2022.  He told me about the many times he snuck into Cubs games for free when he was young and how he managed to get the best seats in the house because he knew the stadium so well.  Dan also had an excellent memory of the bars around the stadium.

Dan's passion for sailing was unsurpassed.  He told me about the item on his bucket list that he was able to complete: sailing in San Francisco Bay.  It was an unforgettable experience because the wind conditions were so unique in the Bay (yes, he got very wet!).

It was bittersweet to see Dan watch sports on TV in his final weeks.  He told me that he particularly enjoyed golf.  "It is so relaxing to watch golf," he said.  Dan was very proud of his job as a ball spotter at the 2021 Ryder Cup.

It was a privilege to be with Dan at Thanksgiving.

Love to you, Sam and Annelise, and of course, Dan's mom, Dottie.

August and Julie

Dear Laura, Dottie, Sam and Annelise- Our deepest condolences to you on Dan’s passing. We will miss hearing Dan regale us with his travel adventures, especially the ones with Laura in recent years out West and to a wedding in NYC where the wedding-guest bus broke down!  Dan’s great skill with roaring backyard fires was legendary, and enhanced family gatherings  on their patio. (Great food, too, but I think that is more Laura’s doing!) Dan always took a real interest in learning what other folks were doing and planning.  Just two weeks ago Dan asked me how my kitchen renovation was coming along! We hope your many memories of happy times with Dan carry you forward now. We are here for you!

Julie and August 

Laura,  one of the keenest memories I have of Dan was honed over many years of Browning holidays in GR.  Each holiday while the Browning sisters would sit around the “next morning” drinking coffee and talking, Dan would be up showered, dressed and looking for the GR newspaper to figure out the plan of the day.   That plan usually included as many nieces and nephews as he could force into his car, seatbelts be damned and going to whatever kid movie was newly out.  Dan would be gone most of the afternoon with the kids and come back with tired, sugared up kids and mayhem would ensue until pizza was brought in and exhaustion took over.  Great times!   Dan was an uncle that was a force to experience.   He will be missed by one and all.  

Dan fought as hard as any person I know to continue a life well lived and well loved.  

Love to Laura, Sam and Annelise.  

Kay. 

Laura,

My condolences to you and your family during this difficult time. I remember playing tennis with you both at Le Club, what fun times. I also remember seeing Dan during the sailing season on Lake Michigan.

What a great person, he will be missed 💕

I always enjoyed chatting with Dan at various social events, often about sailing and windsurfing.  "Did you get out there in that little boat?"  Was the question he always asked me.  

I saw him at the beach on beautiful and warm late summer day this year.  Dan came down with a chair and hung out with us as we took breaks from working on the beach path to swim and cool off.  He had the most peaceful and contented look on his face that day.  At the time, it reminded me how lucky we are to have the beach and how wonderful the neighbors are, but now that experience has taken on a much deeper meaning - I'll never forget it.  RIP Dan.