Rebecca Pauline Brunton

Rebecca (Becky) Pauline Brunton, age 81, of Eaton Rapids, Michigan was born February 21, 1942 in Three Rivers, Michigan, the eighth child of Dale LeRoy and Vera Gladys (Sprague) Thompson. She entered into the presence of her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, April 27, 2023. She married Robert Payne Brunton on July 27, 1963. Becky was preceded in death by her parents and also brothers and sisters Wilbur (Bill) Dale 1920-1937, Robert (Bob) LeRoy 1921-2004, Sylvia Beryl Jenkins 1923-1999, Bonita (Bonnie) Jenkins 1926-2010, Bruce Arthur 1928-1992, Berwyn Recus 1930-2002, and Beatrice Marilyn Quade 1932-2022. She is survived by her husband Robert (Bob) Brunton, to whom she was married for 59 years, and 19 of her 24 nieces and nephews.
She graduated from high school in Beloit, Wisconsin in 1959. She attended Taylor University in Upland, Indiana transferring to Michigan State University in 1963, where she received a bachelor’s degree in Music Education. She taught in the Eaton Rapids and Lansing public school systems and then joined the music faculty of the Michigan School for the Blind where she taught piano, voice, and led the school’s orchestra and chorus. In 1979, she and her husband began a national music ministry. During their 35 years of ministry, they recorded 13 albums, produced a songbook of their own compositions, and presented concerts in all but 5 of the contiguous 48 states and traveled over 1.7 million road miles. Retiring in December of 2014, she continued to use her talents in the music program of her home church.
In 1946, Becky’s dad was transferred with his company, Fairbanks Morse Inc. to Beloit, Wisconsin, where she grew up involved in the music programs of People’s Church. She also played violin and viola in the Beloit High School Orchestra and the Beloit Civic Symphony. Her public music career began at the age of three when she sang Silent Night as a solo for a Christmas program at her church. She started piano lessons with her mother at age 4 ½ and continued until enrolling at Taylor University in Upland, Indiana in 1959. During high school, she became active in the Beloit Youth for Christ program and that led to an invitation to join the touring musical group called The Spurrlows in 1962. It was during this tour that she met Bob. They were married on July 27, 1963. Bob and Becky felt “called” to begin a national music ministry and on April 1, 1979, they began presenting musical concerts, touring throughout the United States and beyond its borders.
A memorial service will be at South Church, 5250 Cornerstone Dr. Lansing, MI on May 13, 2023, at 11 a.m. with visitation in the Commons, beginning at 9 a.m. for family and 10 a.m. for everyone. Contributions in memory of Becky Brunton may be made to South Church, 5250 Cornerstone Dr. Lansing, MI 48917 or Heart to Heart Hospice, 2260 E. Saginaw St. East Lansing, MI 48823. The family is being served by Gorsline Runciman Ball-Dunn Chapel.