David Brydon, Jr.

David Van George Brydon, Jr. was born to David and Sara Lou Brydon of Jefferson City, Missouri, on May 2, 1966. He left this life on May 2, 2024 and is survived by his wife, Amy; seven children, Grace, Sarah and her husband Isaac, Jonathan and his wife Helen, Rebekah, Ruth, Isaiah and Joseph; mother, Sara; sister, Libby, her husband Scott and their children, Cance and Helen; two cousins; and many friends. He was preceded in death by his father, David Brydon, Sr.

Growing up in Jefferson City, David excelled in school, but his real passions were hiking, kayaking, and working with his father on their small farm. The two also enjoyed bird hunting and fly fishing together in Missouri and in places like Montana, Alaska and Argentina. He began his undergraduate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and graduated from Stanford University in California. David continued his education at the University of Texas-Austin, graduating with a PhD in physics. During this time, he took a camping trip to Big Bend National Park and met Amy Cogdell of Austin, an architecture major at UT. They were married in Austin on May 11, 1991. He accepted a job offer at Los Alamos National Laboratory conducting basic research.

While he excelled in physics and was eventually offered a position in the Lab involving top secret international research, he was increasingly torn between his career and his dream of returning to a simple farming life and raising his young family. In the end he chose family and faith above his career and found the answer to his dream in a small Christian community in central Texas. He joined Homestead Heritage in 1998 and raised his seven children on a farm near McGregor, Texas.

David was loved by all who knew him, and he will be deeply missed.