By Marilyn Miller
Once a year, the world comes to Minden, Louisiana; sometimes bringing money, sometimes really nice gifts, but always bringing love.
Don Brand is one of those people who has reached out to this small city of 11,000 during the annual Minden St. Jude Auction, a four-day festival that offers everything from drawings for a late model SUV…to a custom-built playhouse…to exquisite handmade jewelry…all the way to the annual Chili Cook-Off, pork chop dinners, live music, and dancing. Scattered among the days are interviews with patients, past and present, of St. Jude.
“The time I’ve spent with the St. Jude family has been among the happiest times of my life,” said the Lebanon, MO resident during a recent phone interview.
How did it start? Don has been a St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital supporter for over 60 years, making a monthly contribution to them through State payroll.
Don was watching a St. Jude fundraiser for the Springfield, MO area one day and the sponsors were lamenting the fact that time had virtually run out and they were still $2,000 from their goal. “I thought about it, and I decided, yeah, I can do that,” Brand recalled. And his life was forever changed.
About two weeks after he made the donation, his phone rang, and it was Glen Khazee with the fundraising arm of St. Jude. “He said, ‘If you really want to help out St. Jude, there’s a town in Louisiana called Minden…’” And Don Brand has been “helping out” with the Minden St. Jude Auction since that day.
Don was introduced to the co-chairmen of the auction, Laura Hollingsworth and Melissa Brown, and that first year, he donated “a really expensive Gibson guitar and a nice shotgun” to be auctioned off. “I can’t remember what I donated the second year, but the third year Laura and Melissa suggested that I try jewelry,” he stated. “I agreed to try it, knowing that I’d want something well-done and flashy…and I happen to have a friend who owns a jewelry store right here in Lebanon.” He picked out a piece with eight big emeralds surrounded by diamonds. It cost him $8,000. And it brought in $75,000.
He picked out sapphires the next year. “I had to go to the bank that year,” he admitted. But the ring, necklace and earrings brought in $100,000. The third year, Don hit it out of the park, deciding on a necklace and having it created by an Asian jeweler who used rubies and diamonds. It brought in $120,000. The jewelry donations went on for five or six more years…
Picking out jewelry seems a little tame for a man and who flew as a medical evacuation pilot during the Vietnam War and Operation Desert Storm. He just missed Operation Iraqi Freedom because he was flying another military gig. Don joined the Marines in 1967, won his wings in 1969, and went to Vietnam in ’70. In the Fall of 1970, he was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps medal for Heroism. In 1972, he transferred to the Reserves. He retired in March of 2004.
“I spent two wonderful years flying people around north Alaska. Then I finished my 50-year aviation career in the Gulf of Mexico. I flew my Cajun buddies around the Gulf for 15 years. I MISS IT EVERY DAY OF MY LIFE!”
And just when you think the “80ish” flyer is going to let one of his “five retirements” take hold, he accepts a job as a semi-truck driver. But that only lasted for six months. Right now, Don is a part-time high school teacher. “But every penny goes toward the St. Jude gift,” he acknowledged. “It was interesting because all the students thought I was poor…you know because I was ‘old’ and still teaching. But when I explained to them that all the money from teaching was going to St. Jude, they understood.”
“I hate to quit teaching high school. Whenever the kids see me, they call out, ‘Hey Mr. Brand, we love you!’”
Don does not spend all his time working. Living so close to the many rivers and lakes in Missouri makes that impossible, because he is a huge sports fisherman. “I’ve lived all over the world, but every day I thank the good Lord for being here (in Lebanon, MO). It’s my favorite place.”
Being a fisherman means he puts a lot of fish on the table at home. So, when he comes to Minden during the annual auction, why would he spend every noon and evening meal at The Crawfish Hole in Dixie Inn? Well, he can ignore the fried fish. “But they make the best fried oysters,” he crooned.
The year Don stopped donating jewelry to the Minden St. Jude Auction, he gave them a motorcycle. And last year, he donated a travel trailer. What’s in store for 2024? The answer to that is drawing near.
Minden can only hope that McDonald Brand never retires from the Minden St. Jude Auction. “I’ve had the most wonderful life,” he said. And St. Jude and Minden have been a large part of that.