Otto Ezra Brownell (1942)

BROWNELL, WOODROFFE

Posted By: Kent Transier
Date: 11/8/2023 at 18:03:05

The Winterset News
Winterset, Iowa
Thursday, July 16, 1942
Page 8, Column 7

Otto Brownell, 71, Dies In Des Moines

Otto E. Brownell, brother of Fred Brownell of Winterset, died Monday morning at the Fort Des Moines Army Post where he was working as an electrical inspector on remodeling the buildings into barracks for the women’s army auxiliary corps.

Mr. Brownell, who was 71 years of age, is survived by his wife, one daughter, Mrs. Fleta Brownell Woodroffe, a writer and garden expert for the Des Moines Register, and one son, Scott of Des Moines and one brother, Fred of Winterset.

Funeral services were conducted at Dunn’s funeral home in Des Moines Tuesday afternoon at four o’clock.
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Des Moines Tribune
Des Moines, Iowa
Monday, July 13, 1942
Page 9, Column 1

Otto Brownell Dies at Fort

Otto E. Brownell, 71, of 1232 Thirty-ninth st., an electrical inspector on the remodeling of some Fort Des Moines Army Post buildings into barracks for the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, died at the army post at 10:30 a.m. Monday.

Brownell was an employee of Keffer and Jones, architectural firm, which has an inspection contract.

Collapsed

William C. Wright of Keffer and Jones said Brownell walked into a building to get a drink of water and collapsed. Maj. L. S. Greenwood, temporarily in charge of the fort hospital, said Brownell was dead when he was brought to the hospital and that his death undoubtedly was due to natural causes.

Mrs. Fleeta Brownell Woodroofe, Brownell’s daughter and Des Moines garden expert and writer, said she never had known her father to experience any heart ailment and that he had left home Monday morning in good health and in fine spirits.

Light Plant

Mr. Brownell had lived in Des Moines for the last 28 years. Previously he resided at Lake City where he was manager of the electric light plant. He was a past president of the Iowa Electrical association. Mr. Brownell was a Mason, a Shriner, and a member of the Modern Woodmen of America.

In addition to his widow and his daughter, Mrs. Woodroffe, Mr. Brownell is survived by a brother Fred, of Winterset and a son, Scott, of Des Moines.

The body is at Dunn’s funeral home.
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Transcriber's note: Middle name taken from his Iowa Death Certificate. From his father's obituary, the family came to Madison County in 1875 when the deceased was about 4 years old. He appears in both the 1880 and 1885 censuses in Madison County.