Gladys Moritz Brandt
Gladys Moritz Brandt
Gladys Moritz Brandt was born on July 9, 1916 in
Indian Valley, Idaho and passed away February 3, 2012 in Meridian. Her parents were immigrants from Switzerland,
and she was the youngest of six children.
Her mother died when she was 18 months old. For twenty years, her hero was her father,
Albert. He never remarried, raised the
children and had a successful ranching business. She went to Seventh Day Adventist school for the first eight grades, then Cambridge
High School where she graduated in 1934.
When she was not in school, Mom worked hard in the fields with the
family. Her happiest time came when her
sister got married and she didn’t have to do field work any more, as she was
promoted to cook. She was barely a
teenager, but cooked for the family and hay crews. She met Archie Brandt in high school and they
were married in Weiser, Idaho in 1936.
She adopted Dad’s family and loved them all as her own.
Dad had hay fever, so ranching was not an option for
him. They moved to Cambridge, Idaho. A
daughter, Nancy, was born there. Son,
Dennis, was born when they lived in McCall.
In 1945, they moved to Boise. Mom
loved to live in town. She had an
upbeat personality and was always smiling and happy. People responded to her easy way. She could strike up a conversation with
anyone. When her children were both in
school, she began cooking at Garfield school in the lunch program when the
meals were made from scratch. She was
cook and manager of the school cafeteria for 26 years. Many of her friends were co-workers that she
worked with over the years. She loved
to cook. Pies were her specialty. Whoever stopped by never went away
hungry.
Mom wouldn’t think of moving from her house in
Boise. She loved her corner of the
world. She was especially fond of her
roses. She and Dad had a small garden
plot that produced an incredible amount of vegetables. She loved to give them to family and friends,
and she made prodigious amounts of wonderful tasting V-8 juice which none of us
can duplicate.
Together they built a family cabin in McCall, enjoying
summers there from 1964 to 2005 when they sold it.
After she retired from cooking at school, she helped
Dad with their rentals, made quilts and crocheted and knitted items to give away
to her family. Gladys and Archie enjoyed
traveling to Hawaii several times, Mexico, Panama, Europe and most of the
USA. When travel was no longer an option
because of Dad’s infirmities she took excellent and loving care of him. Her unfailing good humor and patience was
amazing because her life was very limited at that point, and her work became
more and more difficult as his caretaker.
She told us “This is my job,” and she did it well until his death in
October 2010. They were married 73 years.
Friends and family loved her because of her strong spirit, optimistic
outlook and her interest in them. Her
outlets were her yard and flowers and her lively interest in and love of her
family, which grew to include all the in-laws.
She was an avid reader of the newspaper, books and magazines. She was a strong Boise State football
fan. After she fell and broke her hip,
her way of life came to an abrupt end, with both she and Archie in a nursing
facility. Gladys recovered enough to come
back home for a few months until she had another health issue. She was a wonderful wife, mother,
grandmother, great grandmother, sister and aunt. She will be remembered as a great blessing
to her family, and deeply missed.
She is survived by her children, Nancy Ebel (Fred) of
Post Falls, and Dennis Brandt (Ruby) of Meridian; her grandchildren, Kathy Perlot (Mike) of
Richland, WA, her grandson-in-law Bill Gazeley of Corvallis, OR, Jay Brandt
(Cynthia) of Bend, OR, Ingrid Watson (Steve) of Meridian and Dena McFarlin
(Tom) Meridian, and 12 great grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Albert and
Rosa Moritz, sister Elsie Clure, brothers Ted, Roy, Dewey Moritz, a half-
brother Johnny Grossen, and granddaughter Kristine Gazeley.
Graveside services will be held at Dry Creek Cemetery
on Saturday, February 11 at 2:00 pm.
Services are under the direction of Alden-Waggoner Funeral Chapel,
Boise.
In lieu of flowers please make contributions to the
Salvation Army in Boise, P.O. Box 1216, Boise 83701.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Gladys Moritz Brandt, please visit our flower store.
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