Friday, March 29, 2024
 
Click HERE to sign up to receive Eye On Sun Valley's Daily News Email
 
Realtors, Others Band to Help One of the Band of Brothers
Loading
   
Saturday, June 16, 2018
 

STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

When Bill Brand moved to Sun Valley in the early 1970s, the street department was using sand on the streets during winter.

Come spring, he recalls, the townspeople grabbed their brooms and swept the sand off the streets.

On Friday, nearly two dozen Realtors grabbed rakes and shovels and swept away a dozen big garbage sacks worth of pine cones from underneath the towering pine tree in Brand’s yard in Deer Creek.

Some trimmed low hanging branches from willow and cottonwood trees that lined the property, while others  discussed removing a willow that was encroaching on a small shed and power line.

And seven Magleby Construction employees built a 16-foot tall carport using lumber donated by Idaho Lumber to house Brand’s Ram 3500 pickup topped with a camper. Scott Miley Roofing plans to top it with roofing today.

The project was organized by 5B REALTORS for Veterans, which is under the umbrella of the Sun Valley REALTORS Give Foundation.

The Repair Fair, as the Realtors call it, is organized each year to help a veteran in need of major repairs so that he or her can continue to live safely in their home, said Jessica Cruz, communications director of Sun Valley REALTORS Give. This is the only housing assistance program in the Wood River Valley, she added.

“This is our second big project,” said Debra Hall, noting that the first Repair Fair had been last summer’s spruce up of 96-year-old Tommy Farr’s spread in Bellevue.

“Bill’s a World War II guy so it’s great to be able to band together to help him out,” said Chris Hay of Magleby Construction.

Julie Harris of Caliber Home Loans was among eight women who raked and shoveled 10 years worth of pine cones from under the pine in front of Brand’s house.

“I love to be of service and I think this is the best way to spend a birthday,” she said. “This is what makes me happy—helping people.”

“It’s pretty fun—nice—to give back to a vet,” added Tyler Johnson, a 17-year-old Carey High School senior, who was helping out on the Magleby crew.

Brand, 93, was among the Greatest Generation, having flown as a fighter pilot during World War II in Okinawa. Following the war, he piloted a private plane for a Colorado Springs millionaire who came to  Sun Valley to ski.

The millionaire stayed in the Sun Valley Lodge, while Brand stayed in Sun Valley’s employee dorm. And it was here that he learned to ski.

The New York native returned in the late 1960s, building a home in Ketchum.

He ran the valley’s private airport. And he ran a sawmill, hauling logs as if they were pickup sticks, even though he stood only 5-feet-5 and weighed 145 pounds.

He became mayor of Ketchum in the early 1970s.

“People liked to fight, fight, fight,” he recounted. “People kept telling me to shut up this one guy who picked out everything that was wrong, and I said, ‘I’m not going to shut him up. He’s telling the truth.’ ”

Brand stepped down as mayor in 1974 when he was told he couldn’t be mayor and fire chief at the same time. He had started organizing the fire department and didn’t want to leave a work in progress, said his wife Diana Landis.

“Before, training consisted of meeting over beer every Friday night,” she said. “Bill was able to fly the  firefighters to California for training where they learned how to organize and handle fire hoses. I think Bill was most proud of that out of all the things he did.”

Brand had long liked the acre lot in Deer Creek that Kent Shaw from Ketchum’s streets department owned. And, when Shaw put it up for sale 10 years ago, Brand snapped it up, in part because it provided a nice grazing pasture and shed for his horse.

“Harold Monk used to run sheep here,” he said. “You can still see the ditch they drank out of.”

It wasn’t long before Landis and her horse moved in. She had met Brand at The Senior Connection when Brand showed her how to transfer kangaroo photographs from an Australian vacation from her camera to her computer. They wed a few weeks later

“I’m delighted about this,” she said, wiping the dirt off her hands from weeding. “I do the gardening so this is perfect. It gets rid of a lot of stuff we can’t do.”

Brand concurred.

“Isn’t this unbelievable?” he said shaking his head. “I never could’ve done all this.”

~  Today's Topics ~


Local Bands Offer New Perspective on Who's a Local

Can You Ski on Water? It’s Pond Skim Time

Jake Adicoff Wins Overall World Cup Championship while Other Skiers Do Well in SuperTour Finals
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Website problems? Contact:
Michael Hobbs
General Manager /Webmaster
Mike@EyeOnSunValley.com
 
Got a story? Contact:
Karen Bossick
Editor in Chief
(208) 578-2111
Karen@EyeOnSunValley.com
 
 
Advertising /Marketing /Public Relations
Leisa Hollister
Chief Marketing Officer
(208) 450-9993
leisahollister@gmail.com
 
Brandi Huizar
Account Executive
(208) 329-2050
brandi@eyeonsunvalley.com
 
 
ABOUT US
EyeOnSunValley.com is the largest online daily news media service in The Wood River Valley, publishing 7 days a week. Our website publication features current news articles, feature stories, local sports articles and video content articles. The Eye On Sun Valley Show is a weekly primetime television show focusing on highlighted news stories of the week airing Monday-Sunday, COX Channel 13. See our interactive Kiosks around town throughout the Wood River Valley!
 
info@eyeonsunvalley.com      Press Releases only
 
P: 208.720.8212
P.O. Box 1453 Ketchum, ID  83340
LOGIN

© Copyright 2023 Eye on Sun Valley