BRANDAU, Helen Caroline Elizabeth (Roehr) 1916-1981
BRANDAU, TROGE, ROEHR
Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 9/28/2011 at 17:59:12
Helen Caroline Elizabeth Roehr was born September 19, 1916, the only daughter of Alvin G. and Emma Roehr. She was born on the family farm four and one-half miles southwest of Osage. She was given the names of her two grandmothers, Caroline Roehr and Elizabeth Troge.
Helen attended No. 9 schoolhouse. When the Depression came Alvin put his oldest son, Loren, on the family farm and moved Emma, Helen, and Alvin Dale to Osage. Helen finished the eighth grade in the Osage school. After the Depression they moved back to the farm. Helen was a very hard worker and with the failing health of her mother she was always kept busy.
On October 30, 1937 Helen married Herman Brandau, Jr. They worked for a few farmers in the area, including Helen's father. Later Herman found work at John Deere's in Waterloo. Their son, Jerald Allen Brandau, was born September 13, 1939. Herman was called into military service in World War II. Helen returned to Osage to live with her mother.
Emma had sold the family farm and had bought a home in Osage. After the war Herman returned to work at Deere's. Later they bought a business in Wabasha, Minnesota. After that they moved to LeRoy, Minnesota, living there some 30 years.
Helen had two or three heart attacks from which she recovered to some extent. On the morning of January 27, 1981 she got up, did a few chores, laid down on the sofa with the intention of getting up in a few minuets to get Herman up to go to work. Those were her last few minutes. The Lord called her home that morning. Helen is buried in the Roehr family plot in the Osage Cemetery. Herman remarried and lives in Charles City, Iowa.
Their son, Jerald (Jerry) lives just south of Leroy, Minnesota on the Iowa-Minnesota state line. He is deputy sheriff in Howard County, Iowa. Jerry married Sandra Glee Kallestad, daughter of Ervin and Edith (Donhough) Kallestad, on June 2, 1959. They are the parents of five children: Tod Allen (1/16/1960); Timothy Jay (8/6/1961); Holly Jane (12/4/1962); Naomi Edith (2/25/64); and Troy Dana, (1/14/66).
[By Alvin (Dale) Roehr, Mitchell County History, pub. 1989]
Mitchell Obituaries maintained by Sharyl Ferrall.
WebBBS 4.33 Genealogy Modification Package by WebJourneymen