William F. Brandes
	2007
William F. Brandes, 80, a retired colonel in the Army Corps of Engineers,  died Oct. 8 of cancer at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville, where he lived.
Col. Brandes, a native Washingtonian, graduated from  Woodrow Wilson High School and enlisted in the Army in 1945. After basic training, he was appointed to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and graduated in  1950.
His assignments included bridge demolition in occupied Germany, construction  of a ballistic missile early-warning system facility in Thule, Greenland, and  command of a combat battalion in the Vietnam War. He retired in 1974 from  commanding the Corps of Engineers' Nashville district, where he oversaw eight  dam projects in Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky.
He received a master's degree in civil engineering from the University of  Illinois in 1955 and a doctorate in environmental and water resources  engineering from Vanderbilt University in 1976. He taught at the University of  Tennessee at Knoxville while also working as director of the Water Resources  Research Center in Knoxville.
Among his military awards were the Bronze Star and the Legion of Merit.
His marriages to Clarissa Alvord and Jan Lewis ended in divorce.
Survivors include his wife, Sarah Hunter Green of Nashville; two sons from  his first marriage, William F. Brandes Jr. of Washington and John A. Brandes of  Knoxville; two sons from his second marriage, George L. Brandes of Nashville and  Avery W. Brandes of Chicago; and a granddaughter.
-- Patricia Sullivan