December 20, 1938 – June 15, 2025

Gordon Branchfield, age 86, passed away on Sunday, June 15, 2025.  He was born on December 20, 1938 as Thomas Edward Bonetto in the charity ward at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Illinois to an unwed mother who was a ward of the Cook County Court.  Twelve days later the court awarded custody to Elmer and Bessie Branchfield who brought him to their home in Canton, Illinois and once his adoption was formalized, his name was changed to Gordon Ray Branchfield.

Beloved husband of 41 years to Barbara Branchfield, loving father to Craig (Linn) and Aric (Christy) Branchfield, stepfather to Kelly Stevens and Andrew Stevens, proud grandpa to Alex (Lauren), Sarah and Jack Branchfield and Sydney Stevens, dear brother of David (Sharon) Branchfield of Indianapolis, Indiana as well as a dear uncle and friend to many.

After graduating from Canton High School, he began an apprenticeship with Caterpillar.  A year later, they had a big layoff and Caterpillar helped Gordon and several of his hometown buddies secure jobs at McDonnell Douglas.  So at the young age of 18, he left home and moved to St. Louis to work in the heat treat plant at McDonnell.  After a few years, he realized that he wanted to further his education, so he and his first wife Fern moved to Rolla where he attended college for 3 years until their money ran out and they had to return to St. Louis.

He was rehired by McDonnell but this time he worked in their exhibits group and was so proud to travel around the country with the Gemini Space Capsule, meeting astronauts and discussing the space programs.

He left McDonnell and took a job he loved as a Travel Director with Maritz Travel, where he traveled the world with large client groups and formed lifelong friendships that have lasted to this day with several people.

After leaving Maritz, he had the good fortune to get hired as a printing salesman for Van Note Printing, despite not knowing very little about the printing business.  But the owner/friend was willing to take a chance on him, and he enjoyed learning the business.  Once Van Note was sold, he was eager to go out on his own and formed American Business Dynamics, a sort of print brokerage that matched clients’ printing needs with the right printing company that could produce the best product to meet those requirements.  As the printing business began changing in the late 90’s with the advent of personal color laser printers, he sold the business and officially retired.

For those of you who knew him well, you know that he had lots of opinions and thoughts on many things. And he frequently wrote down his musings. The following are his own words that he started writing a few years ago as part of his own obituary, largely based on the many career opportunities he enjoyed:  His life took many twists and turns with many highs and some lows.  He described it as 99.9% perfect.  He stated that the life he lived was more interesting, exciting and fulfilling than anyone he knew and almost everyone he had met.  He loved his family, was loyal to his friends but frequently talked too much. 

One of his favorite places was Las Vegas and over 35 years, he and Barb traveled there often enough that they bought 3 different homes that he absolutely loved.  He also made another lasting friendship with a neighbor there.  In 2020 as some health issues precluded him from traveling, he reluctantly agreed that it was time to sell.  But he always reminisced about how much he loved spending time there.

Most of all, Gordon loved his family and was so proud of all his kids and grandkids.  His advice, numerous life stories and sometimes crazy sense of humor will always be remembered, and he will be deeply missed.

A private Celebration of Life will take place at a later date.  Please share your memories in the Comments area.