Walter Broleman, 1912–1980

Walter Broleman was born on 19 August 1912 at 3924 DeTonty Street to Joseph Broleman and Anna Viertel. From his father’s first marriage he had two half-brothers and three half-sisters and then he had one full brother. As young boys, they each were trained to play musical instruments. Walter played the violin. Walter graduated from Edward Wyman School on 16 June 1926.

On 19 August 1935, Walter married Mary Helen Simms in Edwardsville, Illinois, and they lived at 3630 DeTonty. Walter worked as an insurance agent.

On 27 December 1943, Walter received his Selective Service “Order to Report for Induction,” which he did on 26 January 1944. The new year of 1944 must have been a very tense time at home. Walter served in the National Guard as a translator at the German prison camps in Missouri. Right after World War II, Helen and Walter were involved in civil defense as police officers, Sergeant Helen and Lieutenant Walter.

Walter worked at a variety of jobs including selling cameras and working at Mid America Insurance. He was a newspaper carrier, real estate salesman, and camera salesman at the G.E.M store. In 1946, he worked for National Life & Accident Insurance Company. In 1963, he was a salesman for M. Walter & Company, a roofing company.

About 1947, Helen and Walter moved into a log cabin with their three children, leaving the city for their Yaeger Road address in Oakville. Helen became ill while living in the old log cabin—she developed rheumatic fever so the family built a two-car garage with Walter and son, Jack, finishing the inside. They moved into the shell of a building as soon as they could in order to get Helen out of the cold, drafty, and moldy log cabin. Shortly after that, the log cabin was torn down.

A luau was the theme of Helen and Walter’s thirty-fifth anniversary party held at son Jack’s house on Maryvale Lane in Affton, Missouri. The centerpiece of the luau was a roasted pig and a wedding cake.

Walter retired from M. Walter Company in 1978 where he had worked about fifteen years as a cost estimator. The following summer of 1979, Helen and Walter were baptized into the South Telegraph Christian Church.

Walter was diagnosed with lung cancer in the summer of 1979. He died on 3 December 1980 after several days in the ICU. Cause of death was metastatic carcinoma of the lung. He was cremated and his ashes were placed in Helen’s casket and buried with her about ten years later.

Services were conducted Saturday, 6 December 1980 at South Telegraph Christian Church located in Oakville at 5414 Telegraph Road.

Written by Judy Broleman
June 2020

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