Lucille Brandt-Garrett

Memorials may be made to Heartland Hospice or the Alzheimer's Association. Lori was born Lucille Lorraine Houseman in 1924 in Villa Ridge, Missouri to Dewey and Christine Houseman. Often she used to relate memories of growing up with her three brothers under the conditions of the Great Depression Era. Her father, a migrant farmhand, moved them from one country town to another trying to make ends meet for his family during difficult, but simpler times. Her stories involved dirt floor shacks, old biscuit lunches, worn out clothes, one room schoolhouses, playing hooky at the creek and sneaking out to dance halls. In 1941 she married Maurice Kendrick, a military career man. They were blessed with two daughters, Carolyn Sue and LaDonna Lucille. In 1947, she married William C. Brandt of Sullivan, Missouri. Sue and LaDonna welcomed their three siblings, Shirley Ann, William Allen and Dennis James. Bill settled his family in St. Charles County, Missouri in 1955. Lori's long and happy marriage to Bill ended with his death to cancer in December, 1978. After a period of recurring depressions and recoveries, Lori regained her joy and found fun in family and in friends old and new. She married once again, to Louis "Bud" Garrett of Portland, Missouri. Other close and comforting friends she has acquired at Caregiver's Inn, Spencer Place and St. Peter's Manor. Her children began to detect the warning signs of memory loss in the mid 1990's. The onslaught of Alzheimer's, something Lori often referred to as "That Devil Disease," altered her life and finally ended her life on Wednesday, February 11, 2009. Only later in life did she insist on being called by her middle name "Lori." Most people in her lifetime have known her as "Lucille" or "Lucy" …appropriate since she has always been a fun-loving cut-up with antics and qualities reminiscent of the late comedienne, Lucille Ball. She enjoyed expressing her creative side with music, dancing, artwork, writing and acting – things that she had always wished she would have pursued to a fuller degree. On her serious side were quite ethical and spiritual resources. She stressed looking beyond a person's means or the color of their skin to know the secret person of the heart. She had faith in the Bible and she drew comfort from God's promise of the resurrection of dead loved ones to Paradise. Lori is survived by her children, Sue (& Everet) Duncan, LaDonna (& Paul) Ecks, Shirley Barton, William Allen Brandt and Dennis (&Judy) Brandt; grandchildren, Danny Loy, Kristi (& Steve) Jackson, Brandon (& Erica) Barton, Dustin (& Ashley) Barton, Steven (& Tracy) Ecks and Richard (& Robin) Ecks; great-grandchildren, Jesse and Jacob Clark, Brandon, Jeremy and Ashley Ecks, (Aden James Barton arriving in April); brother, Thomas Houseman; nieces, nephews, other relatives and many friends who all miss her dearly and mourn her loss.