Borrell, Bradley James, age 69, of Prior Lake, lost his brief but mighty battle with “Cancer of Unknown Primary” at the VA Hospital in Minneapolis on May 22, 2018. Brad was born January 16, 1949 in Minneapolis and graduated high school in Watertown, MN, where he continued many great friendships through his life.

Brad was a proud United States Marine and was awarded the Purple Heart for his service in Khe Sanh, Vietnam where he lost his right leg to mortar fire. He went on to work as a ready-mix truck driver for Model Stone (later Aggregate Industries) for over 20 years, and even after retiring would continue to show up in the mornings to bring his former co-workers donuts and shoot the breeze. Brad was also proud to be a private pilot and loved flying many adventures out of Winsted. After a devastating accident where an airplane wheel exploded while he was working on it, he experienced an extremely serious head injury, losing his right eye and requiring multiple surgeries to reconstruct his skull and face. Most mortals would not have survived, but Brad came through and fought to regain medical approval to fly again; he was probably one of the safest pilots in the sky. He also enjoyed target shooting with his buddies, garage sale shopping and good food. He was a very generous, caring and faithful friend to many, and the best brother anyone could hope for.

Brad was preceded in death by his parents, Bob & June Borrell and his “brothers from other mothers”, Tom Burns and David Steffenson. He is survived and deeply missed by his siblings, Robert Barry and Becky, nephew Nicolas and great-nephew Wesley Borrell, along with many very close friends, including Jan Taylor.

Memorial Mass of Christian Burial was held at 11:00 AM on Friday, June 29, 2018 at the Immaculate Conception Church in Watertown with visitation from 9:30-10:50 AM prior to the Mass at the church. Brief military honors and luncheon following the service. Casual attire including Hawaiian shirts-in Brad’s memory-encouraged. Inurnment at Ft. Snelling Cemetery with full military honors to be held Monday July 2 at 10:15 a.m.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Cancer Research Institute (www.cancerresearch.org) or Experimental Aircraft Association (www.eaa.org).

Many thanks to Dr. Thomas Downs and the dedicated staff of the palliative care unit of the VA Medical Center.