Lloyd Leroy Bretches and Mable Genevieve Johnson, married April 23, 1937, at Independence, Montgomery County, Kansas, with George S. Williams, Salvation Army Officer, performing the marriage ceremony. Genevieve is the youngest child of LeRoy and Dora Alice (Bryant) Johnson.

In 1944, Mr. Bretches became employed as a boilmaker welder with Standard Oil Company in Indiana, located in neighboring Wilson County.

Lloyd and Jenny purchased the Cohee place west of Neodesha, just outside the city limits and settled to rasise a family of four daughters. Phyllis Jean born 1938, married Kenneth Jarred. Genvea born 1940, married Utter. Alberta Joan born 1942, married Ronald Dean Polk. Dorothy Christine born 1947, married Terry Dean Kingston.
Another daughter daughter, stillborn in 1946, is buried at Ross Cemetery.

Born April 6, 1912, Lloyd Leroy Bretches was the ninth child of Albert Bryd and Cora Ethel (Beathe) Bretrches. He had two older brothers, Everett and Orval (Bud), shared the family with seven sisters, Ada, Lydia, Hazel, Mabel, Lola, Ethel, and Edna.

Albert and Cora were married in Montgomery County, Kansas in august 1896. Albert died 1931 from a lung hemorthage ending a long illness with tuberculosis. Cora moved in 1936 from the rural farn at Oak Valley, Elk County, Kansas to Independence, where she lived until her death in 1953.

A resident of Wilson County, Kansas for 37 years, Lloyd retired with 26 years of service at the refinery, then AMOCO. After retirement in 1970, Lloyd became self-employed, using his carpenter skills.

On September 29, 1974, while vacationing with his wife in Texas, he suffered a heart attack suddenly and died near Lewisville. He is buried at Ross Cemetery, west of Neodesha, Kansas. Genevieve Bretrches later married Farris Raymond Toon at Fredonia, Kansas. Mr. Toon died in 1992 and is buried in Fredonia City Cemetery.

In 1912, the year of Lloyd's birth, his grandfather Jacob Bretches died. Jacob emigrated, as a youngest, from Bavaria, Germany to the United States in 1832 with his parents, Johann Henrich (Henry) and Catharina (Kutscher)Britzius, who are buried in the St. Jacob's Evanglical Lutheran Church Cemetery in Shelly County, Ohio. The church records shows how the name of Britizus become Bretches over time.

Jacob and Lydia Ann (Shaffer) Bretches traveled through Ohio and Illinois settling in Montgomery County, Kansas, in 1872. Their son, Albert Byrd Bretches was born there in 1876.

Lloyd Leroy Bretches was a quite man and a hard worker. A person of average height and stature, he had grey eyes and thick medium brown hair, until age speckled his hair with silver. He liked ballromm dancing as a young man. Special times were spent visiting with family and friends, attending church functions, along with occasional Friday evening movie at the local theater.

He devoted much of his time to the Neodesha Nazarene Church and held several positions there. For relaxation he enjoyed hunting, fishing and travling the country to visit his daughters.
WITTEN BY HIS DAUGHTER, PHYLLIS JEAN (BRETCHES) JARRED

THE CATFISH

One summer in the early 1950's, Lloyd brought his family to Kansas City, Missouri for a visit. They always stayed at our house when they came up and it would be one grand party for the children. Lloyd's four daughters, Phyllis, Genva, Joan and Dorothy; my mother, Edna Parker (Lloyd's sister), would then invite LaVerne, daughter of Ethel Morgan, (Lloyd's sister) and Norman Jean, daughter of Lola Hale, (Loyd's sister) to spent the night. Then there were my sister, Barbara, myself and baby Michael (age three or four). In the morning you coudn't walk through the living room for all the bodies sprawled on the floor.

Uncle Lloyd and Uncle Tom (Hale) when fishing and they caught a 40 pound catfish. Talk about two happy fishermen, they were walking on clouds. The results was a fish fry for all family memebers who lived in the Kansas City area.

Lloyd had four sisters, Ada, Ethel, Lola and Edna and many nieces and nephews living in the Kansas City area and nearly everyone showed up. It was a great opportunity to visit with one's family that hadn't been seen for some time.
WRITTEN BY RICHARD PARKER, son of Edna Bretches Parker

The following was recorded on Tuesday, July 29, 1997 at the home of Edna (Bretches) Parker

BIG BROTHER

Edna: "When Mom came to Kansas City for surgery, she was there for three months. I was twelve or thirteen and those three months where hard for me. But Lloyd stepped up and was a big brother. The games I played with Lloyd, I played boy games. I played mumblety-peg. I played marbles. I would run and broad jump, stand and broad jump. I even tried to pole vault with my short legs. That was a disaster. But Lloyd played with me. I think he knew that it was really three hard months for me. Lloyd could get out. He was sixteen but he would get out and play marbles with me. I never did ride the horses. I like mumblety-peg. I played marbles with the boys at school."

TEMPERS

The following was recorded on Tuesday, July 29, 1997 at the home of Edna (Bretches) Parker:

Lola: "Say, Edna, you wanted to play with Lloyd like I did. He had a terrible temper when he was a little boy. He out grew it but I liked to tease him. I would pet his hair and tease him. Do you remember when they dug the place for the cellar and smokhouse? I was just enough older then LLoyd and he got down in the hole and was playing. I was on top and there were all kind of clods of dirt, you know, where they dug it out. I got one and threw it down in that hole where he was. And threw it on him. you know, and he was little. And he couldn't...but boy could he throw a rock. From the time he was just this tall...and he could throw them rocks back up and I would tossed them back down to him. That's the way we played ball. Wonder we hadn't killed one another".

Norman: "He also could have bean you a good one".

Edna: "Lloyd got it coming and going. Bud was nine years older then me. Bud must have been six years older then Lloyd. Too old to be teasing LLoyd. But I'v seen Bud tease LLoyd until Lloyd's hair was standing on end. He would be so angry. I never thought it was quite fair that...that Bud being that much older that he shouldn't. I know Lloyd picked up a kitchen chair one time and started after Bud. Well, Bud couldn't hold it. He just stood and laughed at him. The more he laughed at Lloyd, the angrier Lloyd got.

Lloyd and I got along really well. He had a habit of running by me and flipping me on the seat. He knew it made me mad. You just couldn't do that to Edna. And he pulled it one day. We had an old rickety gate that open to a pasture. Of course, he flipped me and than ran. It took him a little longer to get over the gate than he expected and I picked up this little old rock. It wasn't very big. He turned around after he got over the gate and laughed at me. I was right behind with the rock. Caught him right here on the forhead. I knew I was in big trouble. I went and hid in the car all the rest of the afternoon. I was afraid to go to the house because I knew mom would be mad. Lloyd never did tell how he..it was a little tiny cut up there on his head. But you know, he never did flip me no more. Oh, I hated that. He thought it was funny. But, if I was out on a date, the boys (Bud and Lloyd) didn't quite approved of, they would follow me home. They knew the boys better than I did".
RECORDED ON TAPE AND TRANSCRIBED BY RICHARD PARKER, 1997