Herb Brister

Herb Brister, 68, passed away peacefully at his home in Graham Saturday April 9, 2022. A Memorial service will be held Saturday, April 16 at 12pm in the chapel at Morrison Funeral Home-700 Oak Street, Graham, Texas 76450.

Herb was born September 30, 1953, in Fort Worth to the late Gwendolyn Sue (Mcray) Brister and John Herbert Brister.  Herb was a navy brat who moved around a lot as a kid. He graduated high school in Hawaii in 1971. He accepted Christ in 1974 and he then received a scholarship to Hardin Simmons. In 1980 he got a Bachelor of Arts in sociology and religious education, He then married his first wife Cyndi Fisher and moved to Portland, Oregon in 1981. He then attended Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary and served as youth minister at Beaverton Baptist Church. In 1984 their first child, Tiffany was born. Later that year they moved to Graham Texas where Herb served as director of the Crisis Center for 10 years. It was during that time that he received his Master of Divinity in theology from Southwestern Theological Seminary. In 1986, they had their second daughter, Melody and in 1989 their youngest son, John. Herb loved spending time with his children and coached them in many sports.

In 1994 Herb and his family moved to Thailand to become missionaries, through the Southern Baptist International Mission Board. While they were in Thailand, as church planters, they lived in Bangkok, Lampang, and Chiang Mai. He was very passionate about his work and working with the Thai people. He impacted a lot of people’s lives there, and brough a lot of people to Christ, including baptizing his daughter Melody and son John in the Indian Ocean.

Him and his family then moved back to Texas in 2001, where he held a variety of positions until he landed his job with Child Protective Services as an investigator. In 2012 he got promoted and moved back to Graham, Texas. In 2015, he met his second wife Syndie and got married in 2018. Herb was a food lover and enjoyed traveling which are just a few things him and Syndie had in common. They enjoyed much of their time doing these things together.

Herb was very athletic and played many sports in his younger years. Many will say he was very competitive and didn’t know how to lose. He was an extremely loveable guy and anyone that met him was immediately impacted by him. He will be loved and missed by everyone.

Survivors include wife, Syndie Brister of Graham; daughter, Melody Brister of Rockwall; son, John Brister and wife Chelsey of Royse City; granddaughter, Charlotte Ann Arizmendi; sister, Karen Sue Lowe and husband Jim of Granbury.