Dwaine Charles Brandt departed this life peacefully at the age of 90 on Saturday, January 31, 2026 at his home in Tualatin, Oregon with his family by his side.

Dwaine was born in the small town of Gurley, Nebraska to Edwin and Marie (Beckmann) Brandt in 1935. In 1937, the family moved west to Portland, Oregon. Dwaine attended Trinity Lutheran elementary school and graduated with honors from Concordia Academy in 1953. He attended Pacific Lutheran College on a baseball scholarship, and after two years transferred to Oregon College of Education in Monmouth, Oregon, where he excelled both as a pitcher and hitter, setting school records for lowest earned run and batting average. After graduating in 1957, Dwaine was drafted by the minor league Salem Senators. In 1962, he played in the Portland City League, winning with his team Archer the American Amateur Baseball Congress National Championship. Dwaine also enlisted in the Oregon National Guard in the late fifties, and continued to serve in the Army Reserves, retiring as a Lt. Colonel after 28 years of service in 1988.

While teaching at Concordia College in Portland as a young professor, Dwaine met his future wife Rachel Ann Kriefall. They married on April 15, 1962, and together they had three sons: Jonathan, Timothy and Michael. Dwaine’s love for history came out of his passion for academics, earning his Master degree from the University of Oregon in 1964, and Doctorate degree in history at the University of Washington in 1975. While working on his Ph.D. in the early 1970s, Dwaine took the entire family to Braunschweig, Germany for one year, and commuted to Magdeburg, East Germany to conduct his research – a rare opportunity to have regular access inside a Soviet bloc country. Upon returning to Portland in 1973, Dwaine continued teaching and coaching baseball at Concordia, becoming one of the foremost scholars on Martin Luther and leading numerous tours to Europe. After 40 years of teaching full-time and coaching, Dwaine retired in 1999, then continued to teach part-time as Professor Emeritus until 2010. Later in life he focused on other lifelong passions, such as fly fishing and building. In the 1990’s he built an impressive log cabin with his family in Maupin, Oregon on the Deschutes river as a weekend fishing getaway.

A dedicated lifelong member of the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church, Dwaine remained grounded in his faith and devoted to his family, students and ball players alike. He was predeceased by his parents and his wife of 59 years, Rachel in 2021. He is survived by his brother Darrell and his partner Sarah, oldest son Jon and his wife Renatta, second son Tim and his wife Lisa, youngest son Mike and his wife Annie, grandchildren Patricio, Henry, Betsy, Naomi and Alex, and his great-granddaughter Millie.

Dwaine and Rachel will be laid to rest together at Willamette National Cemetery on Friday afternoon, May 1, 2026, to be followed by a Memorial Service for Dwaine at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church in Portland on Saturday morning, May 2, 2025 at 11:00 am. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to Living Savior Lutheran Church, 8740 SW Sagert St. Tualatin, OR 97062.