Annabelle West Brasher

Annabelle West Brasher: 1931-2024. Annabelle West was born in 1931 and attended Western on a music scholarship from 1949 to 1953, majoring in music and mathematics, and was valedictorian of her 1953 class. She met James Robert (Skip) Jensen as a first-year student at Western, and they married before their senior year and she graduated as Annabelle West Jensen. Skip was also a music major and graduated in 1953. While at Western, a math professor convinced Annabelle to add a second major in mathematics and she developed a love for it. After graduating she became a military wife, being stationed in Hawaii, where Tracie was born, and Ft. Knox, Ky., where her son James was born. Skip died in a military plane crash on April 5, 1961, when Tracie was three and half and James was only two months old. She returned to her hometown of Hopkinsville, Ky. There she reconnected with Curtis Brasher, who she married in December 1962. In Hopkinsville, she was a math teacher for middle and high school and then the Math Supervisor for the Hopkinsville school system. She also taught at Austin Peay University, at Ft. Campbell, and other schools. She was active in the history and literature club, the Hopkinsville historical society, and various other organizations. She and a good friend restored the oldest standing house in Hopkinsville and turned it into Lone Oak Restaurant. Her love of music has been passed down to her children and grandchildren.

The West Jensen Brasher Scholarship Fund honors Annabelle, Skip & Curtis and was established by a gift from the Annabelle and Curtis Brasher Charitable Remainder Trust. Through this fund, their legacy lives on in perpetuity.