Individual Details

Wallace Lang BRENIMAN

(13 Jun 1910 - 19 Feb 1988)

When Wallace was born, summertime, his aunt Virginia came to the farm to help care for him. She would wrap him in a blanket and put him in the oven to keep him warm. Wallace was born on the Breniman farm southeast of Brooklyn, Ia., in Lincoln Twp. He lived there all his young life with his parents. He attended rural schools until he attended Brooklyn High School, graduating in 1929. (I have in my possession his commencement announcement. PR)

When Wallace was a small boy he started attending church at the Brooklyn Methodist Church. When he was 12 or 13, he went to Sunday School one Sunday and a boy grabbed his vest, tearing all the buttons off. He never went back to church again, though he remained a member until he died.

Wallace, the young son of Mr. and Mrs. Edward E. Breniman, while playing with some other boys Thursday fell and broke the bones of his forearm.
>Poweshiek Palladium, July 26, 1916, page 3

Wallace told me: "One day when I was 4-5 and was at Grandma Langs on Des Moines Street in Brooklyn, I ran away. They found me next door at Dr. Busby's eating duck. I don't remember it but they told me it happened."

Wallace and Anna were farmers all their married lives. They first lived on the Breniman farm southeast of Brooklyn where Wallace was born. They moved in 1936 to a farm 2 1/2 miles east of there, where their first child, Max, was born. They not only farmed the land but raised Hereford cattle, Hampshire hogs, and sheep. They used John Deere tractors and machinery. They also lived on farms north of Guernsey, west of Hartwick, and south of Guernsey. The remainder of their farming years were on a farm southeast of Montezuma. They lived there 24 years before retiring to a home in Brooklyn. Wallace was never very happy with city life, did not like the noise and traffic.

A bit of information from Anna ... We had a crystal radio when we lived where Max was born. I think we bought it in about 1939. It was over this radio that we heard that Germany had surrendered. That ended the war.

In May of 1965 Wallace had a small accident. He got his pant leg caught up in the power wheel of the tractor. He was somehow able to shut off the tractor and save himself from being badly hurt, but his leg was hurt and it took a very long time to heal. He carried a scar from that the rest of his life.

After retiring to Brooklyn, Wallace spent his spare time making miniature farm machinery out of scraps of wood. He hated not being busy. He loved to watch "Mash" on the television. I loved to hear his laugh!

Wallace had bad varicose veins in his leg, inherited from his Grandmother, Julia Breniman. About the time of his retirement, he found out he had emphazima. He had been a chain smoker for many years. Just after they moved to Brooklyn, he spent some time in the hospital and again in 1986 and 1987 he was in the hospital. He suffered not only from emphazima, but from a bad heart. The dr. said he had had a heart attack at some time, but did not know it.

Pat Breniman Rowell has in her possession many interesting papers and journals pertaining to her parents' married lives, many in their own handwriting. Some tell prices of things in the early 1900's, how they spent their money their first year of married life, what things cost, gas ration stamps and papers, machinery costs and receipts, Farm Bureau membership cards, the cancelled checks from the hospital and dr. when each of their children were born, many papers dealing with their lives together.

Flags: heart disease=Y

Events

Birth	13 Jun 1910	Brooklyn, Lincoln Twp., Poweshiek, Iowa, USA
Birth	13 Jun 1910	rural Brooklyn, Poweshiek Co., IA
Graduation	23 May 1929	Brooklyn High School, Brooklyn, Poweshiek Co., IA
Occupation	Bet 1930 and 1977	farmer - near Guernsey, Hartwick, and Montezuma, Poweshiek Co., IA
Marriage	19 Apr 1935	Anna Gertrude OTTO
Marriage	19 Apr 1935	Des Moines, Polk, Iowa, USA - Anna Gertrude OTTO
Death	19 Feb 1988	Grinnell General Hospital, Grinnell, Poweshiek, Iowa, USA
Death	19 Feb 1988	Brooklyn, Poweshiek Co., IA
Burial	22 Feb 1988	Brooklyn I.O.O.F. Memorial Cemetery, Brooklyn, Poweshiek, Iowa, USA
Burial	22 Feb 1988	IOOF Cemetery, Brooklyn, Poweshiek Co., IA
Reference No		1105
ChildParent
Reference No		P2

Families

Spouse	Anna Gertrude OTTO (1914 - 2005)
Child	Living
Child	Max Edward BRENIMAN (1940 - )
Child	Patricia Ann BRENIMAN (1943 - )

Spouse	Anna Gertrude OTTO (1914 - 2005)
Child	Max Edward BRENIMAN (1940 - )
Child	Patricia Ann BRENIMAN (1943 - )
Child	Living

Father	Edward Everett BRENIMAN (1878 - 1961)
Mother	Elizabeth Thompson LANG (1876 - 1968)
Sibling	Dorothy Lang BRENIMAN (1906 - 1997)
Sibling	Jean Lang BRENIMAN (1912 - 1998)

Individual Details

Wallace Lang BRENIMAN

Events

Families

Notes

Endnotes

Individual Details

Wallace Lang BRENIMAN

Events

Families

Notes

Marriage

Death

Burial

Endnotes