Submitted & Wrote by; Paul E. Echols
The Chronicle of a Great Teacher
Miss Leona Brust (1907-2006)
The sunrise on September 15, 2006, brought a hint of fall in the Southern Illinois air. To most of us, it was Friday, the end of a hard work week in our busy lives. In a nursing home, located in Anna, Illinois, Miss Leona Brust, 99 of rural Ullin, quietly passed away. The manner of her death was as she would have chosen, very quiet and uneventful, hoping not to bother anyone. Even Friday, the last day of the work week, seemed appropriate as it was the end of a very busy life.
For those who did not know Miss Brust, she would have appeared to have been just another one of the many respectful blue hair ladies who lived and died in Southern Illinois. Many would have likely stereotyped her and guessed there were children and grandchildren scattered about as evidence of her life. Some would have guessed there was probably a husband who passed long ago, resting on a hillside somewhere, waiting for her to join him in eternal rest. But that guess would have been wrong—well, sort of. You see this was a lady who used her life to teach children, mostly first graders, and then quietly retire and fade away into the sunset.
By making the decision to teach early in her life, it was an era that was quite different than what we know today. By making a decision to teach in the 1920’s she quite likely relinquished some of her own dreams in life. Instead, she chose to build young lives and live vicariously through the success of the children she taught. In those days, women could teach as long as they were not married themselves. Once they married, they were not allowed to teach in public schools. By the time policies were changed to allow women to be married and teach, Miss Brust had already become dedicated to her profession foregoing marriage and children. She was indeed one of those teachers who possessed that special gift that made her such a great teacher.
While Miss Brust bore no children of her own, there were hundreds and maybe thousands of children scattered about the world—like me, who in a way, she considered her own. While she gave so much to us in those early years of our life, she expected very little in return. She wished for all of us to experience happiness and success—like she felt she had done. Even after suffering broken bones from falls at home, which finally forced her to leave her humble home, her demeanor was that of a very extraordinary lady.
Through the years, I stayed in touch with Miss Brust, although like many of her former students, those visits were not as frequent as maybe they could have been. My family felt close to Miss Brust since she had also taught my father, Maurice “Baldy” Echols when he entered the first grade in 1930. When my father returned from World War II, he was employed by the Ullin School. They worked together until his death in 1972. The 1973 Century High School yearbook was dedicated to both my dad after his death and to Miss Brust as she retired after working from 1928 to 1973.
In 2002, I visited with Miss Brust at her home as she was recuperating from one of her falls. She told me the story of how she came to Ullin. She offered to write the story and I accepted. Soon I received the letter in the mail and in her own eloquent handwriting she told the story of how she came to Ullin. It is a short story, but one that I think you will enjoy. So in a last tribute to Miss Leona Brust, here is the short story she humbly provided to me a few years ago. It is her story and in her own words.
“In the evening of April 1, 1915 an Illinois Central Railroad locomotive “set off” three freight cars on the switched track just west of the Ullin Depot. A ramp and stock pen were near the railroad tracks for loading and unloading livestock.
The group of people at the depot must have thought a circus was coming to town when they heard the animals in the freight cars because people began to gather around the depot and stock pen. But it was just a farmer moving to Ullin from Mt. Carmel, Illinois.
Leo Brust heard from Mr. J. E. Black, a realtor at Ullin, that the Jonathon Shick Farm was for sale. There was no farmland for sale in Walbash County at the time.
Mr. Brust bought the farm and planned to move to Ullin in early March 1915, but was delayed because of illness in his family. In the last week of March, members of the family began packing.
All breakables including dishes, dolls, and quarts of home canned fruits, vegetables and meats were packed in barrels of oats to prevent breakage. The oats would be fed to the horses later. Provisions were made for the safe transportation of six horses, four mules, some cattle, crates of hogs, chickens, ducks and geese.
It took time and work to prepare the farm machinery and all for shipping. Some had to be partly disassembled, others tied and wrapped. There were plows, harrows, disc, grain binder, hay mower, hay rake, hay frames, wagons, two buggies, a surrey, carpenter and garden tools, household furniture, linens, featherbeds and clothing for a family of eleven.
Everything was loaded in the freight cars the day before March 31, when the animals were boarded. They were the last to be boarded because they were the first to be unloaded.
So early the morning of March 31, the freight cars were pulled out of Mt. Carmel by the Big Four Railroad enroute to Cairo, Illinois.
At Cairo, Illinois the cars were switched to the Illinois Central Railroad and arrived at Ullin in the evening of April 1, 1915.
This was a long tiresome trip for the men and animals. Some of the men stayed with animals on the trip to feed and give them water when they arrived in Cairo.
The animals were unloaded first and spent the night in the stock pens [at Ullin]. The animals were fed and given water. The cows had to be milked. Hartwell’s, who had a hotel just across the street from the depot, gave Henry Brust, one of the sons, buckets for milk. Henry gave the milk to the Hartwell Hotel.
The next morning the “parade” began. All the animals, machinery and all were either driven or pulled through the middle of town to the farm north of Ullin now known as the Lime Kiln Farm. Other belongings were loaded into wagons. Two weeks later Mrs. Brust and five of the younger members of the family came to Cairo on the Big Four passenger car and were met by Mr. Brust. They arrived in Ullin on the 3:20 P. M. passenger train at the Ullin Depot.”
Miss Brust lived the rest of her life on the Lime Kiln Farm.
She was the last surviving member of the family who moved there in 1915. In memoriam Mrs. Leona Brust.