Jon Byron Bessent, musician and electronics technician, died Tuesday, June 23, 2009. Jon was born November 8, 1952, in Pecos, Texas. He was the son of Dr. E. Wailand Bessent and Rachel Pfluger Bessent, both now of Austin. Jon attended McCallum High School in Austin for a year, but graduated from the "old" Anderson High School in 1971. He worked at several Austin bicycle shops and in the early 1970s was co-owner of The Bike Shop. He later attended classes at Austin Community College, earned a first-class FCC license, and began repairing and servicing TVs. In 1980 he went to work for Texas Instruments where, among other things, he built power supplies for NASA and NORAD projects. In 1990, Jon – a guitarist who played both electric and acoustic guitar – took up his preferred career of fixing guitar amps, working at Musical Exchange. In 1997, he co-founded Austone Electronics, and in 2001 he and his wife, Merlyn, set up Tonecraft Amp Repair. Jon played with several bands over the years, playing a wide variety of music ranging from rock to Irish traditional to country music. Many people might recognize him as the guitar player for the Irish traditional band Gan Ainm, and as one of the musicians who attended weekly Irish tune sessions at O'Brien's Café (later Senor O'Brien's Café) for more than a decade. Jon's gifts included the ability to attract interesting friends and to connect them to others. He was witty, knowledgeable, and philosophical, and had a way of saying unexpected things that could touch your heart. He is remembered not only by his immediate family – his beloved wife, Merlyn; his father, Wailand; his mother, Rachel; his brother, David Bessent, and wife Jean; his sister, Jana Pankratz, and husband, Carl; and his step-brother, Bill Smith – but also by many other family members, friends, band members, customers, and fans. Memorial services will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 27th at Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home, North Lamar location.