In Detroit, Michigan on February 12, 1930, about 100 days after the stock market crash initiating the Great Depression, Floyd Brandt was born to eighteen-year-old Lottie Pauline (Montgomery) Brandt and twenty-three-year-old Stanley Winfred Brandt.
They moved to Detroit seeking work fifteen months after they were married on Pauline’s family farm in Yukon, Oklahoma.
It only took 6 months to return to Oklahoma after he lost his job, one of many families who suffered from the growing unemployment that characterized the Great Depression. They returned to the family farm in Oklahoma, knowing that they would at least have something to eat even if there was no work.
Floyd completed the first year of elementary school in Oklahoma, City before his father was transferred to Pampa, Texas by the oil field supply company that employed him.
A Pampa shortage of housing caused the family to seek housing in the small town of White Deer, Texas, fourteen miles from Pampa where Floyd completed the third grade and reveled in the wonders of a small, rural town where nine- and ten-year-old boys could range freely.
One year later, the family moved to Pampa where Floyd attended four different elementary schools and completed high school.
Allegedly, the first words uttered by his mother after his birth were, “He’s going to college.” Since none of Floyd’s forbearers attended college, there was no counseling about such matters as why, where, and what major. His mother was persistent and contacted her sister who lived in California to help.
From the San Joaquin Valley’s Lemoore, California came a letter offering him free room and board and the promise to pay for the bus that traveled the twenty miles to Visalia Junior College.
In the middle of the summer in 1947 after high school graduation, seventeen-year-old Floyd packed his belongings into his twelve-year-old Chevy named “Asthma” and drove across the desert to California to begin college.
With no real understanding of a major, he enrolled in a potpourri of courses and secured several different part-time jobs to finance his college experience.
After receiving an A.A. degree, he enrolled the following fall at Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas and two years later graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. He received an M.B.A from University of Michigan in June 1952 before enlisting in the Army during the Korean War.
After basic training, he was selected for officer training at Artillery OCS, Fort Sill, Oklahoma and a week later, married Norma Anne Pirtle, also from Pampa. Although they never dated in high school, they had lived across the alley from each other (and by family lore they first met when he threw rocks at her when he was 6 years old).
Five days after their wedding, he was commissioned in the Army and was assigned to Camp Polk, Louisiana, Fort Riley, Kansas and finally Fort Carson, Colorado where he was aide-de-camp to General Heiser, Division Artillery Commander, an assignment that allowed him to hone what became his legendary memory.
In this position, he was responsible for memorizing the name of every person at the almost daily receptions for the general, a task he had to accomplish in less than 30 minutes.
His memory was legendary among his students since - regardless of the class size – he started every first class by calling the roll by memory. Not only that, within three class sessions he knew the name of every student in the class and called them by name for the rest of the semester.
His first teaching position, which followed his discharge from the Army, was at Texas State Teachers College in Canyon Texas for a semester before he and his wife traveled to Boston for him to begin Harvard’s Business School’s doctoral program in the summer of 1956.
After four years of research and dissertation writing including two years as an instructor, Floyd departed with his family for Evanston, Illinois and an assistant professorship at Northwestern University.
In 1963, he accepted a faculty position at the University of Texas where he taught for 32 years before his retirement in 1996. He excelled as an educator and administrator, serving as the Chair of the Department of Management at the University of Texas School of Business, advisor to the President of the University of Texas and numerous other positions.
But his greatest success was reflected in the accomplishments of the over 9000 students he taught, supervised, and mentored. He knew their names, he cared about their families… and it’s not surprising that many of them communicated with him for years after graduating, seeking his counsel and laughing at his jokes and stories.
Following the death of his wife of 53 years in 2007, Floyd began a series of almost 100 “pilgrimages”. At random times he would set either a direction or distant destination, pack a suitcase, and set off in his Prius with no planned route or reservations.
He had five rules for each journey:
1) Turn if the sun gets in your eyes, 2) Freeways are to be crossed, not driven on, 3) Anything of beauty warrants a stop, 4) If you see a group of pickup trucks in front of a Dairy Queen, it warrants a stop, and 5) Ask anyone who is alone at breakfast if they mind if you join them.
He would wander each day, following these rules, until around 3 or 4 when he would find the next hotel with breakfast included and stop. He would pour a Scotch, pull out his computer, and write the stories of the day which he would then send by email to an ever- growing list of readers.
In addition to the hundreds of missives from his pilgrimages, Floyd was the author of 10 self-published books including his memoir (Travels with a Pilgrim), a devotional (Consolations of a Pilgrim), two volumes of poetry, five volumes of essays, and a children’s book, Toby and Two-Bits.
For the last 219 weeks of his life he also sent an email “Weekly Gazette”, a revisiting of his “pilgrimages” with editing and the addition of a joke and images.
Floyd is survived by his daughter Dr. Mary Brandt (Dr. Stacey Berg), his son Stan Brandt (Cheryl), grandchildren Will (Kolleen), Ashley (Danny), Ryan (Haven), and his 4 great grandchildren (with a fifth expected in January). He joins Norma, his parents and ancestors, as well as his teachers, mentors and friends who are sure to welcome his joy and laughter to the cloud of saints.
A visitation for Floyd will be held Sunday, December 17, 2023 from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM at Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Homes and Cremation Services, 5416 Parkcrest Drive, Austin, TX 78731. A memorial service will occur Monday, December 18, 2023 at 10:00 AM at Covenant Presbyterian Church, 3003 Northland Dr, Austin, TX 78757. The service will be livestreamed at covenant.org/stream – which links to the web address below.
https://vimeo.com/event/63946
