Virgil Hansen Brandt was born in Anchor, IL on June 28, 1924 to Walter F. and Mathilda Hansen Brandt and passed away on October 22, 2018 in Ventura, CA. Besides his parents, he was preceded in death by his two brothers Delmar and Wallace, and his sister Phyllis Heckenbach. He is survived by his son Russell and his wife Carole, daughter Jeri and her husband Michael Mead, six grandchildren, Amy Leykam, Marc Brandt, Heather Warren, Melanie Martinez, Nicholas Mead, and Ky'an Kelly and 13 great-grandchildren. Virgil dreamed of being a pilot from a very young age and according to his sister, he didn't build a tree house but constructed a wooden plane high up in a tree where he could pretend he was flying! His youth was filled with music, milking cows, raising pigs and entering corn growing competitions where he proudly received ribbons and a trophy. Virgil earned a scholarship to the University of Illinois but soon left to fight in WWII. He rode the train cross-country to Tulare where he was stationed at Rankin Field for flight school. He met Dorothy Walters, a Lindsay native and elementary school teacher, at the Longacre home. He continued to visit Dorothy as often as possible as he moved to different bases for flight training and his stint as a flight instructor. His military orders took him to the Philippines where, after the war, he was employed as a pilot by both Far Eastern Air Transport Inc. (FEATI – the first local Philippine airline) and later, Philippine Airlines. He had been in communication with Dorothy through many letters and after the war he asked her to marry him. Dorothy flew to the Philippines to marry Virgil (who arranged the entire wedding and reception himself) and they made their home in Manilla. Virgil had many stories of flying different cargos in the Philippines, from chickens to gold bars. Their son Russell was born there a few years later. His father-in-law, S.E. Walters, a local rancher/realtor, located the perfect parcel of land for Virgil and Dorothy in Strathmore, which they purchased and then headed back to the states. Their daughter Jeri was born a short time later in Lindsay. After working on a wind machine installation crew, Virgil went to work for Perma Rain Irrigation Company as third man on their 3-man pump crew, working his way up into sales, sales manager and eventually General Manager. He continued to fly while working at Perma Rain, taking pictures out of the window of the company plane of orchards where ranchers had requested irrigation system estimates. Both friends and family took turns flying with him on these outings. While working at Perma Rain, he continued to improve the Strathmore ranch production including cattle, oats, corn, olives, and eventually seven varieties of navel oranges. He also raised a few sheep for Dorothy and housed a few purebred pigs on the ranch for grandson Marc. Virgil retired from Perma Rain in 1981 and concentrated on farming activities until Dorothy's passing in 2012. He continued living on the ranch until he moved to Ventura to be close to his daughter Jeri's home. A memorial service will be held Saturday, December 29th at 2:00 pm in the Lindsay Presbyterian Church Multipurpose Room with a reception following.
Published in The Porterville Recorder on Dec. 22, 2018