Thursday, October 22, 2009

Volume 97; Number 19

www.bladepublishing.net

A community newspaper serving Browerville, MN and surrounding areas. USPS 067-560

75¢
'That's not accepting the fact that Maryette
has Alzheimer's. She was diag- Brix takes woodworking hobby
nosed in 2003 and it hasn't been

Grandma' easy on the family, which

includes 14 children, 37 grand-
in a surprising direction
children and 15 great-grandchil-
Family deals with the dren.
effects of Alzheimer's The family is dealing with
Maryette's condition the best
By Jennifer Stockinger
way they can. To help support
Staff Writer
her and others with Alzheimer's,
Eighty-four-year-old
the family formed a team and
Maryette Geraets is known for
participated in the Alzheimer's
her irresistible caramel rolls
Association 2009 Memory Walk
that her children, grandchildren
Saturday in Kiwanis Park.
and great-grandchildren could-
Research from the
n't wait to dig into.
Alzheimer's Association indi-
Now if family members of
cates Alzheimer's is a brain dis-
Maryette and the late Chuck
order that destroys brain cells
Geraets want the mouth-water-
causing memory loss and prob-
ing caramel rolls they have to
lems with thinking and behavior
make them themselves.
severe enough to affect work and
Maryette Geraets, a Woodland
a person's social life. There is no
Good Samaritan Society resi-
cure and Alzheimer's and
dent in Brainerd, is no longer
research funding is critical.
capable of making her specialty
Alzheimer's is the fifth-leading
rolls.
cause of death for those 65 and
Dealing with the loss of
older and deaths attributed to
caramel rolls is the easy part for
Alzheimer's are increasing.
the family. The hardest part is
Continued on page 16.

School board reviews

audit, District is fortunate
to have good fund balance
All School Board Members
were present at the October
School Board meeting. After the
approval of the minutes and
agenda, Mary Backlund from
Gary Paulson Agency, CPA in
Little Falls gave the audit report
for the School District. At the
end of the report Mary said The
Browerville School District is
very fortunate to have a good
strong fund balance.
Next on the Agenda, the Food
Service report was given, which
showed an average of 97% of the
students attending school eat
the hot lunches. Over 5,800
breakfasts were served. Thank
You to the cooks who do a fan-
tastic job preparing the food for
the students.
Mr. Sutlief, Dean of Students,
reported that Homecoming went
very well with very few com-
plaints. The Homecoming Dance
was well attended and the stu-
dents were very well behaved.
He reported that the Upward
Bound program is going well
with 10 students involved. This
is a program to help at risk or
first generation students who
are going to college.
Mr. Sutlief also reported on
some research he is doing on the
GPA scores and how
many Colleges
and
Universities use these scores.
Mr. Schaefer gave the School
Board Members an update on
the H1N1 influenza. He was
questioned by a local health pro-
fessional of what measures the
school is taking. Mr. Schaefer
responded that the school is
using the old fundamentals of
washing hands often with soap
and water. A letter was sent to
parents on the difference
between Cold and Flu symp-
toms. Anyone who has a fever is
considered to have the flu and
parents are contacted. Anyone
with a fever/flu and has been
sent home is reminded to not
send their child back to school
until 24 hours after the fever
has broken. Browerville Public
School will be a vaccination
sight for the H1N1 Vaccine.
When the date has been decided,
a notice will be put in the
Browerville Blade.
The School Board Members
approved a rewquest to get
quotes for an 8 passenger school
van. The present one is 12 years
and the state requires that vehi-
cles be replaced at the 12 year
mark.
After approval of the bills, the
meeting was adjourned.
Glenn Brix turned his woodworking hobby into a commercial business, building coffins.
Glenn has built and sold over 250 coffins so far. (Photo by Jan King)
By Tim King
When Glenn Brix wanted to
make his woodworking hobby
into a part time commercial
enterprise he took it in a sur-
prising direction.
"I've built and sold more than
250 coffins," Glenn said.
Glenn is quick to add that the
"I" in Avon Coffin Work includes
his son Jake, wife Kathy, and
daughter Juliana. Jake, who is
27 and will inherit the business
when his father retires, stains
the coffins and installs the lin-
ings. Kathy sews the linings on a
machine in their home next to
the workshop. Juliana, a recent
graduate in graphic arts from
Moorhead State University,
designed the company's
brochures and website. Juliana
also will soon be opening a show
room for the Coffin Works in
Pelican Rapids. The entire Brix
family is involved in making the
coffins. The customer’s family
can be involved too.
Although Avon Coffin Works
regularly keeps ten or so coffins
on hand, Glenn says half his cus-
tomers order their custom made
coffins before they need them.
And, even though Glenn's work-
shop generally has a plentiful
supply of black ash, white ash,
red oak, maple, pine and other
kiln dried wood, some customers
bring their own wood, or even
logs. Other customers bring a
preferred liner fabric, such as
denim or a beloved quilt.
Customers who have their
coffins built ahead of time can
take them home and stain them
themselves. Some of those far
sighted customers have then
used their coffins for storage or
knick-knack display. Later, they
can exchange places with their
knick-knacks.
Avon Coffin Works only sup-
plies coffins to the end user.
Glenn says he could sell directly
to funeral homes and make more
money. He chooses not to.
"The main reason we started
this was to help people out and
save them a lot of money," he
said.
Prices at the Coffin Works
range from $800 to around
$1,250 depending on the type of
wood and the construction style.
Metal handles cost the same as
hand crafted wood handles.
"It takes a lot of time to make
the wood handles," Glenn said.
Federal laws require that
funeral homes accept the coffin,
or cremation urn, chosen by the
family of the deceased. The fam-
ily can bring the coffin to the
funeral home or Avon Coffin
Works can deliver it if the dis-
tance isn't too great. For more
information on the company call
Glenn, in the evenings, at 320-
250-5089 or visit www.avon-
coffinworks.com.

WEEKLY WEATHER REPORT

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