A Beautiful and Historic Eulogy

Kilian and Adela's grandson Mike sent this today.  It was read by Gene Brandl (Ed and Sadie's son) last summer at a gathering honoring Florence Brandl at St Michaels Church in Buckman. 
There's a lot of history and a lot of love in it: 

It is nice to be here, for several reasons. It is nice to have a gathering of the clan for a joyous occasion not a funeral. It is also nice to be back here again. This church has had a recurring presence in our family. I was thinking on the drive up here that the series of family events have been like mileposts in a lifetime. I remember my Aunt Leona’s wedding was the first wedding I ever attended. I learned about pew rental here and my Aunt Adela telling me to be sure to sit in a particular row. I have never been more scared to go to church. I was afraid I’d sit in the wrong place and be struck by lightening if not struck by an angry parishioner. One of the earliest sad days of my life was the first time I was a pallbearer, for Leona’s baby. Mary Lou Zenner’s wedding was the social event of the year. I have been in this sanctuary before, 50 years ago when I would be visiting Terry Zenner and we were mass servers. I remember Debbie Brandl’s wedding and Alvina and Charlie’s funerals. The last time was for our Grandmother’s funeral. As I will tell you, she is the main reason the Brandl’s are gathered here today. On behalf of the extended Brandl family, we would like to thank you for your recognition of Florence. I would also like to applaud your choice of improvements to help this institution mark another century of events. When we told your church council about her gift, they asked if it would be okay to use it for tearing down the old hall. Florence had fond memories of the hall and had wondered about restoring it. We told her it was probably beyond repair and we told the council that an improvement would be a better use of her gift. I think she would be pleased with your church improvements that her gift funded.

Since there aren’t any Brandls left in the area, I have been asked to say a few words about who they were. My name is Gene Brandl. Florence was my aunt. And across the street in the cemetery, those Brandls and Jansons were my ancestors. I mention the Jansons because they are the reason the Brandls were here. Like most of the early settlers, they were encouraged to come here by Father Pierz. He must have been quite a salesman to get people to uproot. He had come over from Germany and established a mission church. In the 1880s and 90s he wrote back to German Catholic newspapers extolling the life here. Unlike Europe, in America there was land for homesteading or buying at reasonable prices, the countryside looked a lot like central Germany, the church was established and the people in this area all spoke German so they would feel right at home. The Jansons came from a small farm community just south of Heidelberg. My great grandparents with 4 small children and one on the way, came over and settled about 1 mile east of Buckman. After a couple years they left their oldest son Sebastian to run the farm and moved to the state of Virginia. My grandmother said they didn’t find the people very friendly. I suppose the fact that they didn’t speak German contributed to the Jansons feeling out of place. They moved back and settled west of Buckman on what is now the Reine Janson heritage farm.

The Brandls were from Bohemia, that area where Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic meet. My great grandfather was a leather worker and first settled in St. Paul. The Irish had a monopoly on the leather trade so he moved first to St Bonifacius, about 20 miles west of Minneapolis, and then to New Munich in the middle of Stearns county. The link to this area was the railroad. The Soo line ran thru New Munich and Genola. My grandfather John Brandl as the oldest son had learned the leather trade. At the age of 20 he married Frances Janson and set up shop across the street. He sold and repaired shoes but primarily he made harnesses. If your only machine is a horse, the only way you get work from it is with harnesses. You need them to ride, pull a plow or pull a cart or carriage. But our grandfather was farsighted and realized that he wasn’t just in the leather business, he was in the transportation business. And when he realized that the car and tractor were going to replace the horse, he got one of the earliest Ford motor company franchises and started Brandl Garage later to be renamed Brandl Motors. His brother Joe Brandl joined him in the business and also in the family.

Joe married my Grandmother’s sister Rose Janson. So the Brandl brothers John and Joe married the Janson sisters Frances and Rose. Joe and Rose lived across the street from here on the corner. John and Francie built the house 2 doors down from the hall. They each had 6 children and each had 3 boys and 3 girls. 10 of the children graduated from Cathedral High School in St. Cloud and the 2 youngest, Florence and Lois, were among the first graduates of St. Francis in Little Falls. Of the 12 children 3 remained in the area.

My aunt Adela married Killian Zenner and they ran the General Store in what had been the Brandl Leather Shop. It was a mainstay on the corner across the street for 40 years. The 2nd one to stay in the area was my uncle Roman Charles Brandl. I think only his family called him Roman, to the rest of the world he was Charlie. Charlie Brandl was a one of kind. He was fluent in 3 languages, English, German, and a vocabulary all his own that was always special and often unique. My Grandfather died in 1945 and Charlie took over Brandl Garage when he came back from the army. He ran it until his son and son-in-law took over. The other Brandl in the area was Ervin . During the depression when Brandl Garage couldn’t support 2 families, Joe became the postmaster. His son, Ervin, took over and for nearly 50 years Joe and then Ervin were the Buckman Postmaster.

Florence was the youngest and left Buckman for Minneapolis and worked at the Northern ordinance plant during the 2nd world war and then as a beautician in Minneapolis, Chicago and back again in Minneapolis where she retired. She never married and lived with my grandmother. My Grandmother had some of the Janson pioneering spirit. At the age of 65 when most people are retiring, she sold her house and moved to south Chicago to live with Florence. We think this invigorated her because she lived to within a few weeks of her 100th birthday. The 2 two of them were avid supporters of the Catholic missions and so her final gift was a logical conclusion to a generous life. So I’d like to thank you again for your recognition of Florence. She was a little shy but I think she would have been honored by your recognition.

Thanks, Mike!