John Oliver Brainard

BRAINARD, SMITH, SAND, KAISER, DOSTAL

Posted By: Diana Diedrich (email)
Date: 2/15/2006 at 09:55:47

Funeral services for John Brainard were held Tuesday, February 7, 2006, at Bethlehem Presbyterian Church, rural Postville, Iowa. Rev. James Walker officiated. Casketbearers were his grandchildren. Burial was in the church cemetery. The Schutte Funeral and Cremation Service of Postville was in charge of arrangements.

John Oliver Brainard was born March 7, 1921, on a farm in Post Township, Allamakee County, Iowa, to George R. and Eva (Smith) Brainard. He passed away Saturday, February 4, 2006, in the Good Samaritan Center in West Union, Iowa, at the age of 84.

John was baptized into the Christian faith as an infant. He attended rural schools near his home. In February of 1949 John was married to Shirley Sand in Ossian, Iowa. To this union six children were born: Sylvia, Bradley, Georgianne, Roger, Bruce, and Catherine. John and Shirley were later divorced.

John farmed in the Postville area his entire life, living on the Brainard “home place.” In the 1950s John built many of the terraces with his caterpillars in the Postville area that to this day protect the land from erosion. He also built the “Brainard Pass Road.”

Above all John was a farmer. He had one of the first pipeline milking parlors in the area, and raised hogs and cattle along with the crops. He had a love for machinery, which led to his interest in using his bulldozers in his farming as well as assisting others in their projects. John was very active in the early years of the National Farmers Organization. He belonged to a bowling league and bowled left-handed.

John’s interests in his later years included attending sales and buying furniture and items that he would restore, including clocks. He also liked to do some woodworking as well.

He is survived by six children, Sylvia Brainard of Mason City, Iowa, Bradley Brainard, Roger (Julie) Brainard, and Bruce (Deb) Brainard, all of Postville, Georgianne (Ron) Kaiser of Garnavillo, and Catherine (Larry) Dostal, of Coralville, Iowa; 12 grandchildren, James and Jennifer Cannella, Reid and Kori Kaiser, Alicia Humilcek, Kellie Clarke, Sarah and Courtney Brainard, Justin and Cory Clark, Kirstin Brainard, and Sean Dostal; seven great-grandchildren, and his very special friend, Ruth Rask of Waukon.

Other survivors include four brothers, Keith (Orril) Brainard, Gene (Charlene) Brainard, Edgar (Shirley) Brainard, and Ray (Darlene) Brainard; three sisters, Barbara (Ken) Schori, Janice Walby, and Bernice (Lester) Friederich; and a sister-in-law, Donna Brainard.

He was preceded in death by his parents; two brothers, Dale and Lee Brainard; two sisters-in-law, Erna Brainard and Jenetta Brainard; two brothers-in-law, Les Poesch and Leland Walby; a son-in-law, Jim Cannella; and two nieces, Jana Rupnick and Rhonda Radloff.

Even though John had been baptized as an infant, he was baptized at the age of 80 in the Bethlehem Presbyterian Church, rural Postville.

Source: The Waukon Standard Internet, Feb. 14, 2006