A Lifetime, A Legacy: Presley Braun, Beloved Son and Brother
Presley Braun in the summer of 2020.
Life goes on, the saying goes.
“When tragedy happens to others, one asks, ‘How do they go on?’” says Lisa Braun. “And then it happens to you. Other people’s lives go on; yours changes.”
The lives of Lisa, her husband Tom, and their daughters Samantha, Sophia and Gabrielle were radically altered when the couple’s deeply loved son and the girls’ older brother, 22-year-old Presley, died tragically on the Garden State Parkway on Nov. 14, 2020.
More than seven months later, this grieving mother glows when she talks about “Pres,” who was well-known locally for his fun-loving friendliness and strong work ethic.
Speaking for her family, Lisa shares a treasure trove of their memories.
Lisa and Tom made their move to South Jersey from West Chester, Pa., to seek a simpler way of life for their family in the early 2000s. Presley was then a toddler. They initially lived in Sea Isle City. As the family grew, they eventually resided in Cape May Court House.
Many people came to know Presley and his dad through the family business, USA Pools. USA Pools, founded in West Chester in 1989, was introduced to Avalon in 2001.
“Presley was part of the pool industry since age 2,” Lisa says.
Their little guy spent a lot of time as his dad’s sidekick, riding from job site to job site in Tom’s truck, she recalls.
The seeds were planted. Presley worked for USA Pools for five years, before and after graduating from the University of Alabama in 2020 with a degree in finance. Upon graduation, his parents told Presley that he could seek employment wherever he chose. Their son told them that he wanted to stay in the region he loved and work with his father.
“He was a hard worker, dependable,” Lisa says. His dad ensured that Presley received no special treatment as the boss’s son, she adds.
“Presley really took to his dad,” Lisa muses. Father and son golfed together, too.
During his time at Middle Township High School, Presley was an enthusiastic member of the school’s golf team.
“Pres practically grew up at the Stone Harbor Golf Club,” Lisa says. In his early teens, her son spent as much time sipping soda, eating snacks and socializing with the crew and golfers there as he did golfing. A handsome bench, hand-carved from an old cedar tree by members of SHGC grounds crew, now sits on the 12th hole in Presley’s memory. As for wording on a plaque to be placed on the bench, Lisa says she and Tom are considering “Just put it on my dad’s account!” Presley would approve, she adds. “Pres liked to make people laugh.”
Presley spent plenty of time in the Avalon workforce as a teen, as well, working at Brian’s Waffle House and Café Loren. “People tipped him left and right at Café Loren,” Lisa says with a slight smile. Those tips helped Presley to fully pay for his Delta Chi fraternity membership. Their child, “not the scholarly type,” enjoyed the Crimson Tide life; he also kept his deal with Dad and Mom about keeping good grades, Lisa says. Presley made the dean’s list.
Not only that, Presley insisted that his frat brothers study or finish assignments before times of merriment, as the Braun family learned from Presley’s college friends. “He was like a dad,” Tom and Lisa were told. “We’d get mad,” they said. But the guys followed Presley’s lead. Moreover, female pals spoke of Presley’s goodness as a guy friend. Parents told Lisa and Tom how their son ensured their daughters’ safety by walking them wherever.
Upon his death, Braun family members received an outpouring of stories about Presley’s presence … his kindness and consideration, his neighborliness, his ability to converse with adults, his congeniality, his love of laughter, his willingness to help people and more.
On the heels of Presley’s college graduation, last summer proved to be an unusual one for the family. They resided in an Avalon Manor sea shack while awaiting completion of their home there. Since their relocation to Jersey shore decades ago, this was the first time they had lived on the water, Lisa notes. The shack’s close quarters – which Tom, Presley, Samantha, Sophia and Gabrielle spruced up as a surprise for Lisa – helped them to bond as a family, she says.
“Pres said, ‘Mom, I had the best summer of my life’” while at that shack, Lisa adds.
Just months after that warm season of family contentment, Presley lost his life. After getting a flat tire and pulling his car well off to the side on the Garden State Parkway, he phoned home and waited for his mother to pick him up in the wee hours of that mid-November morning. During the wait, Presley was struck and killed by a passing car whose 26-year-old female driver cooperated with police and was not charged, according to local news reports.
“We still don’t know details of the accident and might never know,” Lisa says. “It’s just a tragedy all around.”
When the time came to quickly determine how their devastating loss might benefit others through memorial donations in Presley’s name, “we wanted to do something that would have a local impact,” Lisa asserts. They chose the nonprofit organization, Concerned Citizens of Whitesboro, Inc., as the beneficiary. Historic Whitesboro is just 12.6 miles south of Avalon off the Garden State Parkway. “We decided that Pres could help there,” says his mother.
Presley’s father knew of Concerned Citizens of Whitesboro, and the group’s many good works, thanks to his participation in realtor and philanthropist Gene Summers’ The Impact Club of Cape May County, which raises funds to support local charities. Tom never forgot a presentation made before Impact Club members by Concerned Citizens President Bernie Banks a while back. “Bernie’s presentation made quite an impression on Tom,” Lisa says.
Since 1988, Concerned Citizens of Whitesboro has been building a strong, vibrant community via programs, services and events that include: the CCW scholarship program funded by the annual John Roberson Scholarship Golf Tournament; Camp Rainbow summer camp and the after-school Rainbow Homework Club during the school year – each with as many as 80 students participating; the Vera Smith Community Food Pantry; programs for senior citizens, and the Annual Whitesboro Reunion Festival on Labor Day, among other incentives.
Much like the love and support from people near and far received by Braun family members immediately after Presley died, the response in financial support for Concerned Citizens of Whitesboro in memory of Presley was overwhelming, says Lisa. Donations came from people everywhere, including customers, builders and “people we did not even know,” she says. By early June, memorial donations honoring Presley totaled $12,000.
“We are very grateful,” Banks wrote in an email. Those commemorative contributions, 100 percent of them, were applied to college scholarships for area students, CCW’s president reported. “Donations received in memory of Presley were significant to the scholarship program as we had to cancel our golf tournaments in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic,” Banks noted. “The golf tournament has been our major funding source for the scholarship program.”
Further donations to support Concerned Citizens’ scholarship program in honor of Presley may be made to: Concerned Citizens of Whitesboro, P.O. Box 412, Whitesboro, NJ 08252.To learn more about the group, see concernedcitizensofwhitesboro.com.
A moniker like Presley was not in vogue for a boy or a girl when Tom and Lisa’s son was born in 1998. Tom was an Elvis fan at the time and his friends suggested the name, Lisa reminisces. Family members protested. Even the doctor who delivered Presley commented on the name and joked “It’s a Presley!” upon his delivery. As a youngster, Presley occasionally protested the name after schoolmates dubbed him “Parsley.” Lisa and Tom told Presley to “have fun with your name!” Presley’s dad assured him “you’ll grow into it,” Lisa says.
The late Presley Braun, and the name into which he grew, continues to be a positive presence in ways unforeseen as he helps other young people pursue their educational dreams.
In honor of Presley
Donations to support the Concerned Citizens’ scholarship program may be made to:
Concerned Citizens of Whitesboro, P.O. Box 412, Whitesboro, NJ 08252
